A traveller, a carriage, and a horse in a snowy scenery. The traveller stops for a moment and contemplates the scenery before being called back to his duties. This process of daydreaming and then being forced back to reality is a strong theme in Frosts poem. This text describes the contrast between a poetic daydream and reality and raises curiosity towards what the underlying meaning of the poem is. Robert Frost uses a contrast between contemplative vocabulary then more grave words, using the metaphor of woods on a winter solstice to bring us into some sort of trance, before switching back to the real world with a different rhyme scheme and new kind of vocabulary. This stylistic effect brings our attention to the distinction between two states of mind, two “worlds” that we might not have been aware of at first.

The first important element of this poem is contrast. It brings forth the fact that there is two parts in the poem. Those two parts, or states, are “daydream” (3 first stanzas), a contemplative state where the traveller is being evasive about his intentions and “reality” (last stanza), where he goes back to his duties. These states are made separate by, for example, the style they are written in. The poetic persona uses different techniques in the two parts, a different range of vocabulary to create different atmospheres. The three first stanzas are written in an AABA rhyme scheme, the fourth is written in an AAAA scheme. This is the first technical difference that helps seeing two different parts in the poem.

The reader gets used to a first rhythm and associates it with the atmosphere of the stanzas, so when this rhythm breaks, it triggers a reaction, giving the signal that something has changed in the mood of the poem. It also hints a sense of motion, the feeling that the carriage is continuing its route after this brief stop by the woods. The first part (stanzas 1 to 3) and  second  part  (4th  stanza)  also contain different kinds of vocabulary. The persona first uses a contemplative vocabulary: he is talking about the nature that surrounds him (“no farmhouse near”, “woods and frozen lake”). During the last stanza, when the speaker is brought back to reality as his horse chimes his bells, the vocabulary changes. The word “promises” is highlighted by two stressed syllabus. The repetition of the last line emphasizes the idea determination in the travellers mind to keep said promises. The distinction between those two parts, made clear through the use of different writing techniques, puts in light the contrast between the poetic and real world.

Analysing this poem was helpful to understand the process behind it; it is now easier to get how these two different atmospheres are created. When the speaker first gets through a meditative state, the contemplative vocabulary and repetitive AABA rhyme scheme brought the reader along in this  daydream, before breaking the previously established rhythm and changing the mood. What is essential in this poem really revolves around this contrast. The poem ultimately brings our attention to this: an absence of contrast would make us unable to tell the difference between the poetic and the real world. The fact that the woods are described as mysterious adds the question of what would have happened if the persona did not have a horse to chime his bells to wake him up, if there was no way to see the difference between what is real and what is not anymore.