“He will not see me stopping here” (line 3): Nature vs Civilisation

Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening” seems to be a rather straightforward poem where the speaker and his horse stop by some woods but meaning is hidden behind explicit sentences. Indeed, the speaker is in fact drawn to the woods which could be seen as a means to escape from the everyday routine despite their rather mysterious aspect and the potential danger they might represent. The use of a turn in line 14 and the location of the speaker suggest an inner struggle between his/her wish to stay in the woods and the duties he/she has to fulfil while the alliteration of the letter ”d” (line 13) along with the line “And miles to go before I sleep” (line 15) could hint at the woods’ potential dangerousness. This idea of using the woods as a pretext to pause or, as the title suggests, to stop the routine is central otherwise it would be nothing but a poem about a man/woman with a horse stopping by woods and continuing his/her way

The fact that the speaker stops right in between the “village” (line 2) and the woods comes as no surprise. Indeed, it serves to create a conflict in the speaker’s mind between nature and civilisation. The pull towards nature is so strong that the speaker forgets about the “miles” (line 15) he/she still has to go. The shake of the horse’s bells (line 9) then serves as a reminder that it is no time yet for the speaker to fully give him/herself to the scenery he/she is witnessing. Hence, the idea that the woods give a break to the speaker takes shape. Moreover, the lines “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep” (line 13-14), which can potentially be the turn of the poem, are the direct expression from the speaker of his/her inner dilemma between nature and civilization. Indeed, the speaker reckons his/her attraction towards the “lovely” (line 13) woods but the “promises” (line 14) he made, probably to society or to someone, keeps him/her going. The “but” (line 14) implies therefore that the duties towards society are stronger than the speaker’s wish to stay in nature.

Although, as described by the speaker, “the woods are lovely” (line 13), some hints might suggest that they are potentially dangerous. The words “dark” (line 13) and “deep” (line 13) used by the speaker to depict the woods and the negative connotation they often carry might indicate that there is something wrong about these woods. The alliteration of the letter “d” (line 13) strengthens these two words as if they were more relevant than the word “lovely” when it comes to these woods. The potential threat they might represent could be one of the reasons for the speaker’s attraction. An analysis of the line “and miles to go before I sleep” (line 15) proposed by Sparknotes goes even further by suggesting that the part “and miles to go” could be seen as the continuity of life while the part “before I sleep” could represent an eternal rest and potentially the death of the speaker. In that sense, the attraction of the speaker towards the woods could be interpreted as a deep desire to end his/her life in order to escape from the routine.

To conclude, the inner struggle of the speaker between his/her desire to stay in the woods and the “miles” (line 15) he/she has to go could be interpreted in different ways. The speaker might just merely be willing to contemplate the beauty of nature but the reasons behind this stop by the woods might be far deeper and more complex than that. It might indicate a real need of the speaker to find a way out of the responsibilities towards society and perhaps the only way to do so is to die.