Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Night
Overview:
Biographical Information:
The following is from: https://www.biography.com/writer/robert-frost
Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet who depicted realistic New England life
through language and situations familiar to the common man. He won four Pulitzer Prizes for his
work and spoke at John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration.
Who Was Robert Frost?
Robert Frost was an American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes. Famous works include
“Fire and Ice,” “Mending Wall,” “Birches,” “Out Out,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “Home
Burial.” His 1916 poem, "The Road Not Taken," is often read at graduation ceremonies across
the United States. As a special guest at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, Frost became
a poetic force and the unofficial "poet laureate" of the United States.
Frost spent his first 40 years as an unknown. He exploded on the scene after returning from
England at the beginning of World War I. He died of complications from prostate surgery on
January 29, 1963.
Early Years
Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. He spent the first 11 years of his
life there, until his journalist father, William Prescott Frost Jr., died of tuberculosis.
Following his father's passing, Frost moved with his mother and sister, Jeanie, to the town of
Lawrence, Massachusetts. They moved in with his grandparents, and Frost attended Lawrence
High School.
After high school, Frost attended Dartmouth College for several months, returning home to work
a slew of unfulfilling jobs.
Beginning in 1897, Frost attended Harvard University but had to drop out after two years due to
health concerns. He returned to Lawrence to join his wife.
In 1900, Frost moved with his wife and children to a farm in New Hampshire — property that
Frost's grandfather had purchased for them—and they attempted to make a life on it for the next
12 years. Though it was a fruitful time for Frost's writing, it was a difficult period in his personal
life, as two of his young children died.
During that time, Frost and Elinor attempted several endeavors, including poultry farming, all of
which were fairly unsuccessful.
Despite such challenges, it was during this time that Frost acclimated himself to rural life. In
fact, he grew to depict it quite well, and began setting many of his poems in the countryside.
Wife
Frost met his future love and wife, Elinor White, when they were both attending Lawrence High
School. She was his co-valedictorian when they graduated in 1892.
In 1894, Frost proposed to White, who was attending St. Lawrence University, but she turned
him down because she first wanted to finish school. Frost then decided to leave on a trip to
Virginia, and when he returned, he proposed again. By then, White had graduated from college,
and she accepted. They married on December 19, 1895.
Robert Frost’s Early Poetry
In 1894, Frost had his first poem, "My Butterfly: an Elegy," published in The Independent, a
weekly literary journal based in New York City.
Two poems, "The Tuft of Flowers" and "The Trial by Existence," were published in 1906. He
could not find any publishers who were willing to underwrite his other poems.
In 1912, Frost and Elinor decided to sell the farm in New Hampshire and move the family to
England, where they hoped there would be more publishers willing to take a chance on new
poets.
Within just a few months, Frost, now 38, found a publisher who would print his first book of
poems, A Boy’s Will, followed by North of Boston a year later.
(1902–1967)
It was at this time that Frost met fellow poets Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, two men who
would affect his life in significant ways. Pound and Thomas were the first to review his work in
a favorable light, as well as provide significant encouragement. Frost credited Thomas's long
walks over the English landscape as the inspiration for one of his most famous poems, "The
Road Not Taken."
Apparently, Thomas's indecision and regret regarding what paths to take inspired Frost's work.
The time Frost spent in England was one of the most significant periods in his life, but it was
short-lived. Shortly after World War I broke out in August 1914, Frost and Elinor were forced to
return to America.
Public Recognition for Frost’s Poetry
When Frost arrived back in America, his reputation had preceded him, and he was well-received
by the literary world. His new publisher, Henry Holt, who would remain with him for the rest of
his life, had purchased all of the copies of North of Boston. In 1916, he published
Frost's Mountain Interval, a collection of other works that he created while in England, including
a tribute to Thomas.
Journals such as the Atlantic Monthly, who had turned Frost down when he submitted work
earlier, now came calling. Frost famously sent the Atlantic the same poems that they had rejected
before his stay in England.
In 1915, Frost and Elinor settled down on a farm that they purchased in Franconia, New
Hampshire. There, Frost began a long career as a teacher at several colleges, reciting poetry to
eager crowds and writing all the while.
He taught at Dartmouth and the University of Michigan at various times, but his most significant
association was with Amherst College, where he taught steadily during the period from 1916
until his wife’s death in 1938. The main library is now named in his honor.
For a period of more than 40 years beginning in 1921, Frost also spent almost every summer and
fall at Middlebury College, teaching English on its campus in Ripton, Vermont.
In the late 1950s, Frost, along with Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot, championed the release of
his old acquaintance Ezra Pound, who was being held in a federal mental hospital for treason due
to his involvement with fascists in Italy during World War II. Pound was released in 1958, after
the indictments were dropped.
Robert Frost’s Most Famous Poems
Some of Frost’s most well-known poems include:
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“The Road Not Taken”
“Birches”
“Fire and Ice”
“Mending Wall”
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“Home Burial”
“The Death of the Hired Man”
“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”
“Acquainted with the Night”
“Out, Out”
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
Pulitzer Prizes and Awards
During his lifetime, Frost received more than 40 honorary degrees.
In 1924, Frost was awarded his first of four Pulitzer Prizes, for his book New Hampshire. He
would subsequently win Pulitzers for Collected Poems (1931), A Further Range (1937) and A
Witness Tree (1943).
In 1960, Congress awarded Frost the Congressional Gold Medal.
Robert Frost reading his poetry at John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration.
Photo: George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images
President John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration
At the age of 86, Frost was honored when asked to write and recite a poem for President John F.
Kennedy's 1961 inauguration. His sight now failing, he was not able to see the words in the
sunlight and substituted the reading of one of his poems, "The Gift Outright," which he had
committed to memory.
Literary Analysis:
Overall, the rhyme scheme is AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD. The text of the poem describes the
thoughts of a lone wagon driver (the speaker), pausing at night in his travel to watch snow falling
in the woods.
Robert Frost:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
a
a
b
a
My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.
b
b
c
b
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.
c
c
d
c
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
d
d
d
d
The following is from: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Stopping-By-Woods-OnA-Snowy-Evening-By-Robert-Frost
First Stanza (Lines 1–4)
Starting off a poem with a possessive pronoun is a brave and unusual thing to do, but Frost
manages to make it work. It immediately grabs the reader's attention—it's as if the
speaker/narrator is sitting close by, thinking out loud or perhaps whispering. Their initial thought
isn't crystal clear, as they only think they know who owns the woods. This is the first uncertainty
introduced in the poem. The narrator makes this statement to reassure themself as they come to a
stop to break their nighttime journey.
There is a gentle, slightly mysterious atmosphere created by the second, third and fourth lines,
which suggest that the owner of the woods lives elsewhere, is separate and won't see the
trespassing narrator observing his woods. It's as if there's something clandestine going on. Yet,
somehow, the image presented to the reader is as innocent as a scene on a Christmas card. The
steadiness of rhythm in each line suggests that there is nothing odd at all about what is going on.
The second stanza focuses on the narrator's awareness of their own strange behavior. | Source
Second Stanza (Lines 5–8)
The second stanza concentrates on the horse's reaction to the rider stopping. Enjambment, a
poetic device in which one line runs into another without a loss of sense, is employed
throughout. In effect, this is one long sentence whose syntax is unbroken by punctuation.
Again, the tetrameter (more on the poem's meter below) reassures and lulls the reader into a
questionable sense of security. The language is simple, yet its meaning can be interpreted in
multiple ways. Queer is a word that means odd or strange, and the implication is that the narrator
doesn't ordinarily stop to admire the view; he only stops at farmhouses to feed and water the
horse.
So, why stop tonight of all nights? "The darkest evening of the year" may suggest that it's
December 21st—the winter solstice and longest night of the year. Could the word "darkest" be
misleading to the reader? We know from the snow and cold that it is definitely winter, but
"darkest" could also be referring to the narrator's emotional state or perception of the undisclosed
task at hand.
Here sits the rider on their horse in what appears to be a dark, cold and inhospitable countryside.
Are they staying too long? Are they thinking too much? The long vowels in this section seem to
reinforce the doubts of the horse as to why its rider chooses to linger at such an uncanny
moment.
In the third stanza, the narrator's horse is personified, or given human characteristics. | Source
Third Stanza (Lines 9–12)
The horse is uncertain. It shakes the bells on its harness, reminding the rider that this whole
business—stopping by the woods—is a tad disturbing. This isn't what they normally do. This is
unfamiliar territory.
It takes a creature like a horse, a symbol of intuition, noble grace and sacrifice, to focus the
rider's mind on reality. They ought to be moving ahead. There's something about the way the
narrator is fixed on the woods that worries the horse—something apart from the cold and the
dark.
There is no logical, direct or rational answer given to the horse. Instead, we're confronted with
the narrator's beautifully rendered observation in lines 11 and 12, where alliteration and
assonance (defined in poetic devices section below) join together in a kind of gentle sounddance.
The haunting fourth stanza includes a repeated line and leaves readers with a sense of morbid
wonder. | Source
Fourth and Final Stanza (Lines 13–16)
The final stanza features the speaker again reaffirming the peace and haunting beauty of the
snowy woods. Perhaps, on another night, they would have dismounted and strode into the trees,
never to return.
The idyllic lure of nature and its ability to distract from the everyday are strong themes here.
How tempting is it to simply withdraw into the deep silence of the woods and leave the
responsibilities of the day behind? The narrator; the rider; the contemplative master of the horse
is already committed to the duties of their ongoing life. Their loyalties forbid them from entering
the dream world. As much as they would love to melt into the snowy scene before them, they
cannot—at least not now. The final two lines reinforce the reality of this situation. It will be a
long time before the narrator disengages with the conscious world.
Questions to keep in mind when you read the poem:
1.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Who is the speaker in the poem?
Why does Frost use “Lovely” and “dark” together?
What do you think makes him stop on so cold and dark of a night?
What kind of promises might the speaker have made? Why would they keep him from
staying?
Why do you think the speaker could be contemplating suicide?
How does starting the poem with a line that contains “I think” show uncertainty inside of
the speaker?
What gives away that the poem is not as peaceful and quiet as it originally seems?
Why do you think the author takes such care to write about the dark, stillness, and cold?