Commentary on Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening Essay

ENGLISH ESSAY

The full enjoyment of Frosts poetry lies in unpeeling layer upon layer of meaning and this can be clearly seen in the poems Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and The Road Not Taken written by Robert Frost. These poems are layered with surface meaning and deeper meaning and it requires the reader to contemplate Frosts emotions behind the words. The surface meaning tells us what the poem is simply about. The deeper meaning shows Frosts profound feelings through which he is conveying his message to the world. Some of the poetic techniques used by Robert Frost to convey his message are metaphor, alliteration, symbolism, imagery etc.

On the surface of the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening its talking about a man travelling through snowy woods with his horse and they stop near someones house. The horse wants the man to continue but he wants to stay and admire the beauty of the nature.

The deeper meaning in the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening tells us that the poet is drawn to the beauty and allure of the nature (snowy woods). Being in the woods causes the man to reflect on the larger tensions between duty; his promises to keep and the desire to do what he wants. The poet is thus faced with a choice of whether to give in to the beauty of nature (die peacefully), or remain in the realm of society.

In the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening the woods symbolise death. The woods in snow and death are both looked at as very cold miserable things. The poet reinforces the experience of death with strong, cold and dark images of death symbolised by darkest evening and frozen lake. The second stanza creates a sense of mystery. The poet stopped to admire the prettiness of nature. He is doing something out of habit. Onomatopoeia is used in the words queer and harness bells a shake which challenges the poet to stop admiring the nature. Personifying the horse emphasises the relationship the rider has with the horse. The repetition of last two lines And miles to go before I sleep suggests that a problem or tension still exists. It creates an idea of continuation. The poet realises that he has commitments to fulfil before he dies and that he must remain in this life a little longer.

The surface meaning of the poem The Road Not Taken is about coming to fork in the road and deciding which path to take. It deals with a man who travels through a forest where the road splits into two. He does not know which of them to choose, because they are equally worn and similar in every way.

The deeper meaning in The Road Not Taken is really about making choices in life. In life, we must decisions like diverging path in our life. We try to think about what will happen if we make a specific choice, trying to look as far ahead as we can, but we are unable to see where the path will lead us. Once we reach a decision, sometimes we think that someday we will know what is like to make the opposite decision; but once we choose a path, we dont come back to the same place we were before when we made our decision.

In the poem The Road Not Taken the road is metaphor for life. The whole poem is telling us to make a right decision because our life depends on it. There is an element of regret and sorrow in stanza 1 that only one path can be taken. The use of I gives the poem a personal tone and phrase one traveller emphasising that the speaker is alone. The repetition of word and to begin the three lines of the poem adds to the sense of hesitation. The simile as just as fair highlights the time spent in making this decision and thinking about it. Colour imagery adds a simple layer of meaning for black has negative connotation while autumn in stanza 1 signifies something that is rich and golden. In the last stanza the phrase the one less travelled by tells us that his life is richer for that decision and has made all the difference. This emphasise is not only on what has been chosen but also on the reason for that choice.

Both poems Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and The Road Not Taken clearly demonstrated that we cannot understand the deeper meaning without unpeeling layer upon layer. Therefore, Robert Frost uses poetic techniques to reveal his emotions hidden behind the words.