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★★★Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening★★★
Robert Frost
★★Summary:
At first the speaker describes about a forest,
One evening, the speaker stops to see the snow falling through the trees.There was a frozen like nearby.No sound is hears except the sound of snowfall.His horse are anxious to keep going, but the speaker stays and he was studying about the beautiful woods.
The speaker stops his horse outside a wood.Hearing his horse's bells shake, the speaker imagines that the animal wants to keep going.
He reflects that the owner of the woods, who lives in the village, will not see him.
In the third stanza, the speaker expands his anxiety over the untoward action causes the horse to shake his harness bells.
In the last stanza, the speaker acknowledges that the “woods are lovely, dark and deep.” He seems reluctant, however, to pursue this insight more deeply, he immediately observes that he has “promises to keep,/ And miles to go before [he] sleep[s].”The central focus of the poem is not the woods.
The poem ends with ambiguously. The reader learns very little about the speaker—either where he is coming from, where he is going, or why he stops. The speaker, however, does not permit himself to reflect too deeply about the occasion.The speaker ends the poem to go ahead in the journey of life.
★★Rhyme Scheme:
Rhyme scheme is the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse
★The rhyme scheme of the poem is aaba bbcb ccdc dddd.
"know"=a
"though"=a
"here"=b
"snow"=a
"queer"=b
"near"=b
"lake"=c
"year"=b
"shake"=c
"mistake"=c
"sweep"=d
"flake"=c
"deep"=d
"keep"=d
"sleep "=d
"sleep"=d
Here last word of the 1st,2nd and 3rs line's are "know", "though" and "snow". All the words have same sound.So we can mark it "a".
Then,the last word of the 3rd line is "here" and last word of the 5th,6th and 8th line's are "queer"," near" and "year".Those words have same sound. So we will mark it " b".
Again,the last word of the 7th, 9th,10th and 12th line's are "lake" "shake", " mistake", and "flake".All those words also same sound. So we can mark it "c".And finally last word of the 11th line and the last words of the last four lines have same sound.Those are " sweep", "deep", " keep", "sleep" and "sleep" So we can mark it "d".
So we can find out that the rhyme scheme of the poem is aaba bbcb ccdc dddd.
★★Tone:
Tone is a musical or vocal sound with reference to its pitch, quality, and strength.
The poem begins in a conversational personal tone.The overall tone of the poem is serious and philosophical.The poet used here first person to made the poem personal. This personal tone adds personal rapport by using the colloquial tone and dramatic beginning. However, as the poem proceeds, the mysterious wood and the death like environment add one kind of objectivity to the tone of the poem. It is gradually created by a series of simple but symbolic metaphors. Thus the poem moves from a conversational personal tone to an impersonal philosophical tone.
★★Structure:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is easily one of the most famous, as well as one of the most anthologized, of Robert Frost’s poems. It consists of four quatrains that have the following rhyme scheme: aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd. The poem’s central narrative is simple, and the scene is understated, even stark, bare of elaboration or detail.
★★Theme:
Theme is the central idea in a piece of writing. The whole body explains the theme.
The central theme of this poem is the eternal conflict for life and for death.In the opening of the poem, we see a traveller riding on a horse that stops near a snow covered woods. The traveller is persuade by the beauty of the woods and the solitude of the atmosphere. The horse hesitates either to go or to stop because it sees no farm house nearly. The woods appear so lovely and attractive that the traveller feels an urge of sleeping there. Instantly he remembers that he has some promises to keep, and he has to travel a long distance to keep his promises.The snow covered woods, frozen lake and solitude of cold evening symbolize the cold death. The promise to keep means the commitment to some duties in life, and sleep means death.One part of human mind wants to live forever on this earth while the other part wants to have eternal rest in death. The human being is in a continuous travel towards death. The poet is quite successful in handling the theme at the end of this poem where he says, death is lovely, dark and deep but life is full of duties.
★★Authors Position:
When an author writes to persuade,he/she will have his/her own position on the subject.The author's position is an author's opinion about the subject.It may be subjective or objective.
Subjective means where the writer can use his/her own feelings,emotion, and own choice.
Objective means where writer cann't use his/her own feelings,emotions and own choice.
It is a objective poem.The poet describes the scenery through a speaker.The speaker of the poem may be associated with the poet's own voice.Here,the poet doesn’t use his personal experience or emotions. He keeps himself aloft from this poem.So its an objective poem.
★★Figures of Speech:
Figures of Speech means use of ornamental elements into a piece of writing.
★Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sound.
*"Whose woods there are I think I know".
Here, "W" is repeated one more time so its an example of alliteration.
★Apostrophe
Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which the poet addresses someone or something
*"Whose woods those are I think I know".
Here,the poet addresses the owner of the woods/forest.So its an example of apostrophe.
★Metaphor
Metaphor is a figure of speech in which the poet compares two things.
*"The woods are lovely,dark and deep".
Here the pots compares woods with beauty.
***To err is human.
-----Written by Krishna Mandal