When woods are deeper than you think. The enchanting woods described in Robert Frost’s poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, are dark and cold but still feel like a welcoming place, where, as the title mentiones it, the protagonist is halting. Despite that, a rush can be perceived through the poem. It is suggested by the changes in rhythm. This rush can be understood as a hurry to leave which is in contradiction with the lust to stop and stare at the woods. Through this paradox, and other stylistic choices the idea of obligation is outlined, the desire to stay but the duty to go.

The prosody1 of the poem is the first element that reflects the concept of obligation. The poem is built of four quatrain stanzas with each iambics tetrameters. The first three stanzas are constructed with the same rhyme pattern while the last stanza, with its different structure, is contrasting with the others. The similar construction of the first three stanzas creates a really rhythmic flow that catches the reader and immerses him/her into the narrator’s mind. The sudden change in the rhyme pattern breaks that flow and brings the reader back to reality. Suddenly, there is a rush to leave. There is no more time to be absorbed in the protagonist’s mind and marvel at those woods. The repetition of the last stanza makes the rush clearer. There is no more time to be lost in any thoughts, the protagonist has “miles to go before [he sleeps]”(15/16), certainly obligations. The rhythmic flow serves as a spell on the reader, immersing her/him into the protagonist’s mind and the unexpected change of the rhyme pattern breaks the spell. The narrator is suddenly aware of his obligations, he can not stops and admires those woods. He has to keep going and so has the reader.

The content itself, with the use of some lexicon and repetition, makes the statement made before stronger and clearer. The first thing to notice is the use of a specific lexicon: “woods”,“snow”(4), “frozen lake”(5), “darkest”,“evening”(6), “sweep”(11), “easy wind”,“downy flake”(12), “dark”,“deep”(13). It creates a dark atmosphere, mentioning it is night time but also a very pleasant one, with all that snow around. The mix of darkness and charming atmosphere establishes an enchanting ambiance. Then, it is important to notice that he is alone in those woods: “To stop without a farmhouse near”(6), “The only other sound’s the sweep”(11). The woods are silent and deserted. It creates a strong feeling of loneliness. The luring atmosphere is then stronger because of that loneliness. The protagonist is not exactly alone. He is with his horse, mentioned twice in the poem at the beginning of stanza two and three. The reference to the horse has the same purpose than the break in rhythm. It takes the narrator out of his contemplation of the woods reminding him that he has to keep going and that he can not stops in those marvelous woods. The narrator then remembers that “[he has] promises to keep”(14), obligations, and that he has to keep going.

The rhythm is immersing the reader into the protagonist’s mind but also taking her/him out of it. The content is then creating a luring atmosphere that is broken by the content itself and the allusion to the horse. In conclusion, everything in the poem is made to trap the narrator and so the reader into the contemplation of these enchanting woods but also to take him out of that marvelous atmosphere. The goal is to bring him back to reality and to remind him that he has to keep going and achieve his obligations.

1    The prosody of the poem has been discussed in the ILA class of Boris Vejdovsky.

The peaceful loneliness of nature is often opposed to the turbulence and social obligations of community life, as in Robert Frost’s poem. Through specific rhythmic patterns, sounds and words reflecting peace and beauty on the one hand and rush and constraints on the other, the speaker depicts the dilemma he is facing: staying by the woods or keeping his promises and continuing his long journey. By accepting to fulfil his obligations as the only viable option, he partly surrenders his freedom of choice.

Nature is described as a “lovely”(13) and peaceful refuge. Only the smooth sounds of the “easy wind and downy flake”(12) are audible. Smoothness and fluidity are emphasized by the use of simple monosyllabic words and regular rhythmic patterns with long syllables at the end of lines, giving to the poem a near-silence and hypnotic effect: “Whose woods these are I think I know./His house is in the village though;”(1-2). The poem sounds like a lullaby. The peaceful atmosphere of the woods is also expressed through a sense of immobility, as revealed by the repetition of the words “stopping”(3) and “stop”(6). The speaker and his horse, the only living creatures are still and the lake is “frozen”(7). The immobility and the perception of the woods as “dark and deep”(13) reinforce the hypnotic effect as the speaker’s eyes seem to get lost in them. Smooth rhythm and sounds, snow falling, immobility, deepness: all these features describe the peaceful atmosphere enjoyed by the speaker, who seems to slowly fall asleep.

The rush and social obligations are illustrated in different ways throughout the poem, thus contrasting with the peaceful feeling given by nature. The speaker has “promises to keep”(14), hence forcing him to ride in a rush into the cold “darkest evening of the year”(8) while the “woods” are filled “up with snow”(4). The social pressure is also expressed through a feeling of guilt and shame when the speaker decides to stop by the woods, whereas he has so many “miles to go”(15). Indeed, the speaker mentions the owner of the woods and seems to be relieved that “[the owner] will not see [him] stopping here”(3) as if it is inappropriate to stop and enjoy the moment, as if leisure time is not allowed. The horse acts as the keeper of promises as “He gives his harness bells a shake/To ask if there is some mistake”(9-10), the bell being the only loud sound in the poem and acting as an alarm- clock for the sleepy speaker. The sound pattern and rhythm in the above lines differ from the rest of the poem. The use of alliteration with the sound [s] and [k], harsh sounds certainly contrast with the smoothness of the poem. The rhythm accelerates and the full stop after “mistake” (10) puts an end to acceleration. Smoothness and fluidity is back but a feeling of lassitude due to the hypnotic effect of nature on the one hand and to the burden of social obligations on the other becomes obvious. This is illustrated through the repetition of the same rhyme in the last stanza and, more importantly through the anaphora at the end of the poem: “And miles to go before I sleep,/And miles to go before I sleep”(15-16).

Frost thus depicts the necessity of accepting the social obligations of community life as the only viable option. Staying longer by the woods on that cold and long night would probably have killed the speaker. Living in a community necessitates adaptation and hence partial loss of  freedom  and personal choice. Stopping by woods on that peaceful night is the speaker’s personal choice, a short stolen moment of freedom before rushing back into social obligations.

In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, by Robert Frost, the isolated speaker talks to himself and admires nature in winter, more specifically the woods in front of which he stands with his horse. Through lexical fields and contrast, an atmosphere of darkness and loneliness is created by winter. This climate allows the speaker to think deeply and stop his travel for a moment.

The characteristics of winter are to darken places by covering the sky with clouds and evenings come earlier than usually. Therefore, this season emphasises the atmosphere of darkness in the woods. For example, the superlative in the second stanza “The darkest evening of the year” (l. 8) accentuates the idea of darkness because other evenings are not as dark as the one that the speaker describes. This grammatical term has an impact on the poem because it brings the reader through the feeling of fear and darkness, and “the darkest evening of the year” takes place in winter. That is why the season emphasise the obscure atmosphere of the place. Furthermore, in the last stanza “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (l.13) express a contrast between the adjectives “lovely” and “dark and deep”, which highlight the gloomy atmosphere because the word “lovely”, which reflects a positive feeling, is not generally associated with “dark and deep”, which express an idea of fear. This opposition makes the reader attentive to the description of the woods and it can be explained by the presence of winter, which can be at the same time lovely because of the flakes that fall to the ground, and dark because of the lack of brightness. The atmosphere of darkness is accentuated by winter because the season takes off the light from the forest.

Winter does not only emphasize darkness, but it has a second role: it highlights the loneliness of the poem. In fact, it exists two forms of loneliness: for people or places. In the poem, it is about the place, that is isolated and unusually frequented and not about the speaker who is not alone thanks to his horse. The setting in “My little horse must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near” (l.4-5) at the beginning of the poem illustrates that the speaker is not alone, in opposition to the woods, where there is no “farmhouse near”. This contrast is also visible in the third stanza with “He gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake. / The only other sound’s the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake.” (l.9-10-11-12) where the horse is personified to show that the speaker has a closed companion and on the opposite, the place is remarkably silent because the sound of the wind and the flake, which is typical of winter, can be listened, what is not possible in busy places. Finally, the lexical field of winter with “snow” (l.4), “frozen” (l.7), “wind” (l.12), “flake” (l.12) and “dark” (l.13) accentuates the loneliness of the place because the coldness slows down nature until it is immobile, like the lake that is “frozen”. In other words, the speaker and his horse disrupt the loneliness of the woods that are not frequented, especially in winter.

As a conclusion, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” express an atmosphere of darkness and loneliness, which is supported by winter. The season accentuates this climate of an unlighted and isolated place that are the woods. With the snow and the wind, the speaker stops in the middle of the forest with his horse, that is personified and wonders about the situation, and it allows him to think deeply thanks to the silence that winter creates.

If read lightly, this poem may easily be taken as a simple description of the scenery, made by a lone traveller at night. But through the usage of the lexical fields of winter and loneliness, Frost leads us to the question of the reader’s state of mind, wether he is just stopping by the woods to gaze at the landscape, or wether the woods are a metaphor of death.

This poem’s structure only leads to assume that the first layer of Frost’s text is what was initially meant. Composed of four stanzas of four iambic tetrameter each and mainly monosyllabic, this poem reminds the rythm of a song, easy to understand and to remember. Going with this idea, the speaker would be a traveller who loves nature, the ‘lovely, dark and deep’ woods, just stopping here to look at this beautiful winter scene.

But if looking at the lexical fields and disposition of the stanzas, it is a whole different story. The stanzas’ order could be generalized as following ; the first is the stop, the second and third are the horse’s intervention and the last one is the continuation of the speaker’s route. As for the lexical fields, the winter, the last season, represents the death of vegetation and the end of the year. This winter  is expressed here by the falling snow and the cold of the ‘frozen lake’ on this ‘darkest evening of the year’, which reminds of the burial cloth of death, covering up the life (the woods).

The other main lexical field is the one of loneliness. As expressed in the second stanza, the speaker and his horse are in the middle of nowhere and the odd fact here is the personnification of the aformentionned horse, which thinks it ‘queer’ to stop here. The loneliness of the speaker is explained by the fact that there     is no one around, the surroundings are so calm that he even hears the sound     of ‘downy flake’. The silence and the night are both generators of this feeling, thus the speaker is alone in the dark, except for his horse. Ending his poem     by the impression of the woods on the mind of the speaker, Frost made him continue his way until this speaker has done what is expected of him.

Thus, this poem is a metaphor of what is left to someone who made a choice and has to see it to an end, the ‘promises to keep’. The poem begins with a guess of the speaker, he thinks he knows the owner of the woods, even if he knows for sure where his/her house is. This assumption at the beginning reinforces the question of the poem’s global meaning, wether it is simple or an advanced metaphor of life and death. The woods ‘[filling] up with snow ‘ would be the life being covered up by the shroud of death. The intervention of the horse would be a burst of the speaker’s conscience when he is gazing at the possibility of giving up to the Death. But then it gives a ‘shake’ to his harness, the mind of the speaker and brings him back to reality. Even if he is tired, this speaker has to go, to keep his promises before finally going to sleep.

In this poem, the topic of death is implicite, it can be seen in many ways along the vers, through metaphors and images that put it in evidence. There are actually two principle ideas that make think about death in this poem: the description of the wood and the curious nameless character, only known as « He » (3).

The woods in winter described in the poem give an ambience of death: « Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year » (7-8) « The woods are lovely, dark and deep » (13). The fact that this poem takes place in winter must be pointed out because it is a season (in occidental countries of course) associated with the death of nature, the long nights, the sleep of animals. The term « dark » come twice in the poem and black is a color usually associated with death in occidental culture. Though the narrator is not talking about a violent death, there is nothing associated with the fact itself of dying or its commitment, it is a peaceful death, associated with cold and dark, there is no action related to it, only descriptions creating an ambience.

There is also mystery in this poem, because there are a lot of elements that are not completely explained or revealed. The identity of « He » is never revealed and the exact localization of his house is unknown, like the reason of why he is expecting the narrator to join him « He gives his harness bell a shake To ask if there is some mistake » (9-10). Apparently the narrator was supposed to, but he continues his travel at the end of the poem. Thinking about was has been said previously, the « He » can be seen as an incarnation of the Death itself, because he is waiting the narrator in this strange atmosphere and the narrator does not come to him.

Even if this image of death could be an important theme of this poem, the central subject is the stop that the narrator is making and during which all of the events of the poem are happening. At the end of the poem the narrator goes on his road even if he is waited elsewhere and this is emphased by the repetition of the last vers « And miles to go before I sleep » (15-16).

The fact that the narrator is stopping brings several questions, because if he knows that those woods belongs to death itself « Whose woods those are I think I know » (1), he should go on and not stop for a moment. The more logical reason can be that the narrator is hesitating to stop here definitely. The woods are qualified

« lovely » (13) so the narrator appreciates them but in the following vers he says « But I have promises to keep » (14) and the « But » involves that he has others things to accomplish even if he enjoys the woods. The narrator has promises to keep before he may one day come back « and miles to go before I sleep » (15) The verb « sleep » is also a clue indicating the implicite subject of death in this poem.

At the end of the poem, the narrator refuses to confront death « He will not see me stopping there » (3) waiting for him, he continues through the snowy woods even if every elements of the poem is suggesting  him to stop here for ever. As seen before, death can be interpreted in almost every vers and the narrator has to travel through the whole poem and finally carry on.

There are clearly bad emotions, such as grief, anger or sadness and then there are obvious good emotions, like happiness, excitement and love. However, this whole concept of positive and negative is turned upside down in Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Through Frost’s thoughtful use of rhythm, rhyme and deliberate choice of words, the reader is torn between feeling scared and alone while at the same time feeling calm, therefore questioning the meaning and connotation of words relating to emotions.

Both the rhythm and the rhyme scheme of this poem play a very important part in setting the mood and atmosphere for the reader. When reading the poem out loud, the regular and constant beat of the rhythm can be noticed. Therefore, it almost sounds like a song and could even be sung to simple melodies. For example, when looking at the first line of the poem “Whose woods these are I think I know.” (1) it turns out the poem is written in an iambic tetrameter. This means that every line is divided into four feet and the second syllable of each foot is stressed. This exact pattern is repeated throughout the whole poem. This consistency is very calming for the reader and makes him or her feel at ease. The same thing happens with the rhyming scheme. Frost uses an “a-­‐a-­‐b-­‐a” pattern for every stanza, meaning that the first, second and third line rhyme with each other. The rhyming pattern is once again constant throughout the poem and only changes in the very last stanza, when all four lines rhyme with each other, therefore turning into an “a-­‐a-­‐a-­‐a” pattern. Because of the consistency of the poem’s base, one feels calm and at ease when reading it.

However, the words used in this poem bring out completely different emotions. A few words are emphasized through repetition, the most common one being “woods” (1,4,7,13). This is not surprising, seeing as the woods play an important part in the setting. The whole idea of being in a forest alone on a winter night with a lot of snow and almost complete silence, can be a very romantic image with a hint of nostalgia. Adding words with positive connotations, such as “easy” (12) and “lovely” (13) only adds to that image. However, by deliberately incorporating words with negative connotations the whole tone of the poem and therefore the feelings change. For example, “frozen” (7), “darkest” (8), “mistake” (10) and “deep” (13). This mixture of words with both positive and negative connotations also conveys positive and negative emotions. This can best be shown in line 13 where Frost writes “The woods are lovely, dark and deep,”. Three adjectives are used to describe the woods here. The first one “lovely” is very positive and only used to describe something good. The other two, on the other hand, are negative. But all of them are used to describe the same thing: the woods. This line questions, whether the words “dark” and “deep” necessarily have to be a bad thing.

Almost every word relating to emotion is labeled as either good or bad. Frost questions those labels with this poem. When we look at the base of the poem it is simple and constant and thus calming. However, when looking closer and analyzing the actual content of the poem, we realize that not everything in it is so calming but can also convey rather negative emotions. These two sides create an inner conflict. And to resolve said conflict all we have to do is to forget any connotations we have of words relating to emotions and understand that negative words like “dark” can also have a positive side and positive words like “lovely” might also be negative sometimes.

A rider stops in the middle of dark, cold, empty and dangerous woods while entering a contemplative dream like state. Due to the extremely cold weather this stop could be deadly. Even though the woods are dangerous, they are perceived as welcoming and beautiful by the rider. It is that contradictory perception of the woods that leads to an inner conflict in which the horse’s thoughts, which are a projection of the rider’s rationality, express the danger the stop represents. Through the use of assonances, projected thoughts and opposing adjectives, the loneliness of the rider is emphasized, thus making stand out his tormented state, dividedness and seemingly underlying search of death.

Loneliness is emphasized by the overall atmosphere created through the sounds. The assonance in /s/ and /ʊ/ gives the impression that the only sound present in this scene is the howling of the wind. Plus the poem forces you, when reading aloud, to make almost whistling sounds due to the many /s/ sounds repeating. It is the case throughout the whole poem but mostly striking in the first line of the first stanza and two first lines of the third stanza. Also the two last lines of the poem “And miles to go before I sleep” feel like the words are echoing in the empty woods giving thus the impression of emptiness.

Through the opposition of two spaces: the village and the woods, emptiness is furthermore underlined. The village, is where “His house is” and where “He will not see me stopping”. The spaces are thus shown as poles apart due to the impossibility of creating a link, even just visual, between them. Their description opposes them even more. The woods do not have a “farmhouse near”, they are “<filling> up with snow”, and “The only other sound’s the sweep/ of easy wind and downy flake”, whereas the village has a “house” and a person (“He” l.3) living in it. In this way the woods feel like an empty box in which the rider seems to be the sole living creature.

Yet the rider is not completely left alone because of the presence of his horse, which is referred to as “he” in the third stanza (not to be confused with the “He” in the first one). There being a second life form, the rider projects then his inner thoughts onto it. This is shown by the use of the verb “must” in the first line of the second stanza. Then comes an opposition between the “I” (the rider), the person that feels satisfaction in his lingering and contemplation of the dark woods, and the “he”, the horse which is the projection of the rider’s rationality and analytical side. This clash of thoughts is emphasized through the use of diametrically opposed adjectives to describe the woods: “lovely”(l.13) & “dark” (l.13). This also shows the rider’s sense of security inside those woods. In opposition the horse doubts of their security: “He gives his harness bells a shake/To ask if there is some mistake” (l.9 & l.10) In the end it’s the rational side of the rider that resolves the conflict by restarting their journey. Yet we feel that it is only a mechanical gesture since his thoughts remain on the idea of non movement “sleep” (l.15 & l.16), often consider as a metaphor of death. Through this conflict and its partial resolution the rider’s latent desire of dying is exposed.

In conclusion, the last two lines of the poem represent a partial resolution of the rider’s inner struggle. Since he seems to only start walking mechanically, postponing his “sleep”, to be understood here as his death. Plus the repetition of the same sentence show that his mind is stuck in a limbo thus not clearly ending his torment.

A snowy evening in the woods can be both appealing and distant. In Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, the woods are depicted as a bleak but idealistic place. The poem recounts the story of a person travelling alone with his/her horse and stopping by a dark forest. The latter is torn between two decisions; S/he can either stay in this snowy and pleasant scenery or leave because of the obligations s/he is compelled by. By means of slow rhythm, long vowel rhymes and the use of the sematic field of darkness, Frost achieves to create out of the gloomy woods a “Locus Amoenus”. This idyllic and controversial place hypnotises and lures the speaker into it. As far as the attraction to death is concerned, the allure of the woods emphasizes his/her temptation to stay and therefore the difficulty to leave.

In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, the slowness of the rhythm creates an impression of hypnosis which attracts the speaker to the woods. The use of long vowel rhymes throughout the poem, such as: “know, though, snow, here, queer, near, year, deep, keep, sleep”, highlights the slow rhythm and refers to a lullaby which hypnotises the protagonist. It thus prompts him/her to stay in this soothing place. Moreover, the “easy wind and downy flake” (12) create a sensation of wellness and the speaker seems entranced by the melody emanated from this breeze. Nonetheless, whilst the woods are trying to hypnotise the speaker, someone tries to awaken and alert him/her to their fallacy. In the third stanza, her/his horse tries indeed to rouse him/her by ringing its bell: “He gives his harness bells a shake” (9). However, although the horse incites her/him to leave, it merely comforts him/her even more in his/her dream-state. The alliteration in “sss” reminds of the sound of the wind which mesmerises and anchors the protagonist even more in these woods. By means of slow rhythm and alliteration, the protagonist is therefore enticed into this pleasant and attractive place.

While the slow rhythm suggests a hypnotising and seductive place that attracts the speaker, an analogy between death and the woods is also drawn. By means of the semantic field of darkness, the forest is indeed associated with death. They are both grim: “dark and deep” (13). S/he even asserts that it is “the darkest evening of the year” (8). Additionally, the fantasy unfolds during winter. The use of the cold and gloomy season emphasizes the atmosphere of darkness. Nevertheless, although the speaker characterises the woods as sinister, s/he concedes they are beautiful: “lovely” (13). This paradox accentuates the concept of this dream-like place. Despite their darkness and depth, the woods remain very attractive to him/her. Even if they are lugubrious, the protagonist still wants to stay and seems beguiled. However, although the narrator seems enchanted by the woods, s/he manages to challenge and resist this attraction: “But I have promises to keep” (15) and “And miles to go before I sleep” (15-16). It surely heralds the depart of the protagonist and also the end of the poem. Although s/he has no desire to leave, expressed by the “But” (15), s/he has no other choice. There remain obligations.

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” does not only relate the story of a wandering person in the woods on a snowy night. The woods become simultaneously the very essence of wellness and a metaphor for death. Not only have the woods and death the same aspect, they also have the same capability to release the protagonist from his/her responsibilities. Even if the speaker acknowledges their inhospitable aspect, “dark and deep” (13), s/he feels welcomed there. The woods, namely death, become even more appealing than his/her own life because s/he can eventually be released from the aforementioned responsibilities. Notwithstanding, by dint of her/his will, the speaker does not cede and manages to resist the temptation and leave.

To take a step back and admire the woods, to isolate by not going in the village: these are the speaker’s actions in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, but their sense of duty will end the peaceful state in which they are. Through the setting and the personification of the horse, the speaker in Frost’s poem finds himself in a peaceful state which then gets interrupted, thus emphasizing how difficult it can be to get away from duties and personal matters.

The speaker is in a peaceful state, by getting isolated in order to admire the woods. The four quatrains and the regular iambic tetrameter implies a form of harmony which can be interpreted as peace. Moreover, the frequent use of long lasting sounds as in “Whose” (1), “woods” (1), “house” (2), “snow” (4), “sweep” (11) and “easy” (12) makes the reading, and therefore the speed of the poem, slower, thus emphasizing a feeling of calmness and peace. Furthermore, the speaker makes comments on the forest such as “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (13). They not only say that the woods are beautiful to look at, but by saying “deep” (13), they also imply that they would gladly stay here and observe, discover or even explore the forest. Therefore, the setting is important: it happens at night during “The darkest evening of the year” (8) which implicates it is also in winter. Thus giving a slow rhythm to the poem because winter is a season where nature slows down and hibernate. Moreover, the speaker is isolated because they did not go in the village “He will not see me stopping here” (3) thus emphasizing the feeling of peace. In addition, the lack of “farmhouse near” (6) emphasizes the isolation in which the speaker is. The speaker ends up being alone in a really quiet place where “The only other sounds the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flakes” (11-12), thus not only asserting that the wood are calm and peaceful, but also meaning that the speaker does not say a word. They are lost in their contemplation, thus making them not paying attention to their horse. The peaceful state is palpable throughout the poem through the setting and the rhythm.

The state of peacefulness gets at first interrupted, then completely prevented in the end. The interruption starts in the second stanza where the punctuation suddenly disappears: it is a series of enjambments, thus speeding the rhythm and breaking the general regularity of the poem. Moreover, in this stanza, the speaker’s horse is personified and becomes a character who calls the speaker to order. Therefore, the horse doesn’t think it is normal to stop in the woods. The fact that the horse “must think it queer” (5) shows that it’s uncommon to stop here when the speaker has duties to accomplish. Moreover, in the third stanza, the “harness bells” (9) could be interpreted as an alarm telling the speaker to move on and stop contemplating the woods. Consequently, the rhyming pattern AABA is broken in the last stanza and becomes a DDDD, thus definitely breaking the regularity and the general peacefulness of the poem. Furthermore, the sentence “The woods are lovely, dark and deep

/ But I have promises to keep” (13-14) shows the regrets in the speaker’s mind, mostly emphasized with the “but” (14), like it’s a shame that they have to leave the woods that they would gladly have explored or observed. The repetition in the last to lines “And miles to go before I sleep” (15-16) emphasizes how unwillingly the speaker quits the woods. The speaker has to move on and abandon the woods to accomplish his duties.

The formal and figurative elements in Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening in fact oppose the peaceful state in which the speaker is and wishes to stay with the responsibilities that prevent this peaceful state. The two are incompatible and the duties seem to be stronger than the peace,

is no duty to accomplish.

In Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” being alone in these woods seems an agreeable experience but soon the poet persona gets an alarming feeling of mystery. This poem illustrates these feelings by an evolution of the emotions due to its descriptions.

At first sight, the woods, where the poet persona stopped look like a nice place, the reader gets an emotion of harmony: “The woods are lovely” (13) highlights that it is a nice forest. Add to it the fact that it is a snowy evening and the feel of peace is even stronger1, because the snow is often a symbol of calm, purity which reinforces the idea that it is a quiet forest: “The only other sound’s the sweep/ Of easy wind and downy flake” (11-12). The woods here are as calm as an actual forest and it is highlighted by the only few sounds the narrator can hear such as the wind and the snow falling. In a few words, the way the atmosphere of the woods is described feels like it is a nice and quiet place to stop by.

Nevertheless, the more woods are described, the more they feel dangerous and scary. First, it happens in woods, in the middle of nowhere: “Whose woods these are I think I know/ His house is in the village though/ He will not see me stopping here” (1-3). Furthermore, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (13) contrasts the nice forest at the beginning: “The woods are lovely” (13) with the idea of a dark forest2. Moreover, being alone in an isolated and dark place creates a sensation of danger. Indeed, the time when the setting takes place adds to this unusual emotion: “The darkest evening of the year” (8) highlights the idea of darkness. Here the author could have written “the longest night of the year”3, but instead it is the darkest. Therefore, Frost insists on the idea of a dark time to make a stop. Lastly, the horse tries to wake the narrator up: “He gives his harness bells a shake/ To ask if there is some mistake” (9-10) indicates that the horse makes a noise because he thinks something is wrong. One can perceive a threat coming from this behaviour4. To summarize, the place and time everything happen and the confusion of the horse by asking if anything is wrong emphasises the feeling of being in some mysterious woods.

All these emotions described above are linked together by fatigue. First, it happens during a winter night, the quietest time of the year. Along it happens in a forest, an isolated site. As indicated above “The only other sound’s the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake” (11-12) point out that no sound is being produced by human activities. In addition, not only is the snow known to temper every surrounding noises, but it also freezes the place. All that creates a feeling of laziness, exhaustion; it is winter, everything is asleep and silent.

To conclude, this text goes through a lot of different emotions, from feeling safe and quiet in a lovely forest to a dark place in the middle of nowhere. The feeling of fatigue takes both of these different feelings and mixes them with one another, creating this deep and calm, yet uncanny sentiment. The narrator is torn between these emotions, which everyone can feel by stopping in the woods alone.

1 Seen in the ILA class with Miss Lucy Perry 2 Ibid.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 We have discussed it in the ILA class in group