Chapter 5
Modernism (3)
Robert Frost
Assignment




What are the features of Robert Frost
What are the form and meter of Stopping by
Woods on a Snowy Evening?
What are the themes of Stopping by Woods
on a Snowy Evening? Find lines from the
poem to support the themes and statel the
thoughts expressed by the lines.
Answer the four questions on page 196 from
The Selected Readings.
Outline
Brief
introduction
Life (omitted)
His literary ideas
Experiencing and appreciating
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening
Brief introduction
* Occupation Poet, playwright
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 –
January 29, 1963) was an American poet.
He is highly regarded for his realistic
depictions of rural life and his command of
American colloquial speech. His work
frequently employed themes from the early
1900s rural life in New England, using the
setting to examine complex social and
philosophical themes.

 A popular
and often-quoted poet, Frost
was honored frequently during his
lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes
for Poetry. In a sense, Frost stands at
the crossroads of nineteenth-century
American poetry and modernism, for in
his verse may be found the culmination
of many nineteenth-century tendencies
and traditions as well as parallels to the
works of his twentieth-century
contemporaries.
 His
literary ideas
*He maintained that a poem is "never a putup job.... It begins as a lump in the throat, a
sense of wrong, homesickness and
loneliness. It is never a thought to begin
with. It is at its best when it is a tantalizing
vagueness.“
*He holds to restore to literature the
"sentence sounds that underlie the words,"
the "vocal gesture" that enhances meaning.
*Frost is aware of the distances between
one man and another, and also always
aware of the distinction, the ultimate
separateness, of nature and man.
*Frost focuses on those moments when
the seen and the unseen, the tangible
and the spiritual intersect.
* He never completely abandoned
conventional metrical forms for free
verse .
* He
has the idea of order, of form of the
past which should not be altered by the
present as much as the present is
directed by the past.
* He was more abstract, conceptual
awareness of language and stressed a
fascination with the meaning of
meaning. In between these extremes of
the practical and the abstract, he paid
attention to the act of creativity,
methods of composition, the relation of
poet to reader, the nature of originality.
* He tells that a poem must reach:
the eye, the ear, and what we may
call the heart or the mind. It is the
most important of all to reach the
heart of the reader.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening
 Introduction
 Summary
 Themes
 Literary
device (technique)
 Introduction
When you read the title, maybe you think of
a Chinese poem,
Robert Frost wrote "Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening" in 1922, two years before
winning the first of his four Pulitzer Prizes.
The poem tells the story of a man traveling
through some snowy woods on the darkest
evening of the year, and he's pretty much in
love with what he sees around him. He's on
his way back to town, but he can't quite tear
himself away from the lovely and dark woods.
People love to talk about what this poem
means. Some argue that it is simply a
description of a man appreciating nature.
Others would tell that there is some heavy
metaphor action going down, and that the
poem is about death. And there are those
who take it a step further and say that this
poem addresses suicide. Nature-lovers see
it as a piece that trumpets nature and that
scorns civilization. You probably have your
own idea of what this poem means.
Robert Frost is a beloved American
poet, and many people associate him
with nature and with the New England
landscape, because, well, he liked to
write about nature and the New
England landscape. He was born in
San Francisco (land of the sourdough),
but spent most of his years in snowy
places like Massachusetts and New
Hampshire (land of the maple syrup).
Frost is known for creating simple
poems that can be interpreted on
many different levels. He also
loved to inject everyday, colloquial
speech into his poems. He was big
on sounds, often talking about how
the sounds of words carry more
meaning than the words
themselves.
(Here is what Frost says:
"What we do get in life and miss so
often in literature is the sentence
sounds that underlie the words. Words
themselves do not convey meaning,
and to [. . . prove] this, . . . let us take
the example of two people who are
talking on the other side of a closed
door, whose voices can be heard but
whose words cannot be distinguished.
Even though the words do not carry, the
sound of them does, and the listener can
catch the meaning of the conversation. . . .
[T]o me a sentence is not interesting merely
in conveying a meaning of words. It must
do something more; it must convey a
meaning by sound.")
So, if we follow Mr. Frost's advice, we
shouldn't be so concerned with what this
poem means as concerned with how it
means. Let's warm up our vocal chords and
perk up our ears.
 Summary
•
•
Brief Summary
Line-By-Line understanding
*Brief Summary
Our speaker is in the woods, but he's
trespassing. He first wonders who
owns these woods. In the same breath,
he tells us that he thinks he does know
who owns them. The lucky landowner
lives in a house in the village. So, our
speaker won't get into trouble for
trespassing, because there's no one to
catch him trespassing.
Our speaker has a horse, and this horse
is little. Our speaker psycho-analyzes
his little horse and supposes that the
little horse must think it's pretty strange
for them to be stopping in the middle of
nowhere, with no one in sight, with not
even a farmhouse close by, and
absolutely no sign of hay. The speaker
and his little horse are chilling (pun
intended) between the woods and a
frozen lake. Ice skating? No. Also, it
happens to be the darkest evening of
the year.
Little Horse is starting to really lose it.
Fortunately, he has some harness bells
on his back, and he gives them a little
shake in order to get his master's
attention. The only other sounds are of
a slight wind and of falling snow. It's
quiet.
Our speaker admits to having a
hankering for the dark woods, but he
tells us he's got things to do, people to
see and places to go. He's got a long
way to go before he can rest his head
on his little pillow, so he had better get
going.
*Line-By-Line understanding
Stanza I (Lines 1-4)
Line 1
Whose woods these are I think I know.
Our speaker is not confident. This line
begins as a question,( and as we're totally
ready to get on board the question train,)
but then, halfway through the line, he
switches it up.
He wonders initially who owns "these
woods." The word these make us realize
that our speaker is actually near the woods
in question.
*Our speaker then tells us he thinks he knows
who owns these woods. Notice how he
doesn't say he knows who owns these
woods; he says he thinks he knows.
Why doesn't our speaker say, "I think I know
whose woods these are"? What would be
lost or gained if the poem began with that
rewritten line?
Line 2
His house is in the village though;
The speaker thinks he knows the owner
of woods, and this owner lives in a
house in the village.( Civilization, sweet,
sweet civilization! )
This line tells us that there is a village
around here somewhere. The word
"village" reminds us of thatched roofs,
smoke curling out of little chimneys, and
of a few stores and homes clustered
around a single main street; in other
words, a village is not the most hopping
place in the world.
*However, our speaker is relieved that
the owner of the woods is in the village
– now he doesn't have to worry about
getting caught trespassing on someone
else's property.
Line 3
He will not see me stopping here
Why “will not” used here? This woodsowner guy must be pretty strict if our
speaker is seen taking a breather on
his property.
*The speaker is almost trying to calm
himself down and reassure himself that
the owner "will not see me stopping
here,"
as though he believes that saying so
makes it true. It's similar to the magical
phrase, "If I can't see them, they can't
see me," uttered by Haley Joel Osment
in the movie Sixth Sense.
*This line also tells us that the speaker
has stopped, that he's hanging out at
the moment.
Line 4
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
He's hardcore trespassing so that he
can…watch the snow fall?
*Yes, he has stopped in order to take a
gander at snow falling on cedars.
Stanza II (Lines 5-8)
Line 5
My little horse must think it queer
This tells that the speaker is not alone!
He has a horse, and this horse is little.
Maybe a pony.
*The speaker and his little horse
probably spend a lot of time together,
because our speaker is totally able to
read the little horse's mind.
*He imagines that his horse is thinking
that things are a little strange now.
Line 6
To stop without a farmhouse near
The speaker continues to read his horse's
mind, and imagines the horse is thinking
something, perhaps, along the lines of,
("Whoa, why are we stopping here? We're in
the middle of nowhere Ville. Where's my
dinner? I don't know about you, but I'm cold.
There isn't even a farmhouse close by –
what's going on?)"
*The fact that our speaker even
attempts to figure out what his horse is
thinking shows that he's a caring kind
of guy, and that he's aware that
stopping in the middle of some snowy
woods is kind of a random thing to do.
Line 7
Between the woods and frozen lake
Now we get on just where, exactly, the
speaker and his horse have stopped: they
are currently hanging out between the
woods and the "frozen lake," so they must
be on a little patch of snowy shore line with
dark trees to one side and a glossy, icecovered lake to the other.
*It must be really cold if the lake is
frozen, and we also are kind of
intrigued by the fact that the speaker is
not riding through the woods, but is
right beside the woods.
Line 8
The darkest evening of the year.
Not only is it snowy and wintry, but it's
also approaching nighttime too.
*Why is this speaker dilly-dallying when
the light is dying and the snow is falling?
A lot of people in his place would want
to scurry home as fast as is humanly
possible.
"The darkest evening of the year" makes us
think of the winter solstice, which occurs in
late December (in the northern hemisphere)
each year and marks the moment at which
the sun is at its farthest possible distance
from the observer.
*Whatever the case may be, it's dark out and
it's getting darker by the minute. We don't
think that the speaker is the kind of guy to
pack flashlights.
Stanza III (Lines 9-12)
Line 9
He gives his harness bells a shake
Even though the speaker can read his little
horse's mind, the horse can't talk back. So,
the next best option is to shake his booty.
And by shaking his booty, we mean that he
shakes his harness a little. There are little
bells attached to his harness, which give a
nice little jingle.
Line 10
To ask if there is some mistake.
Again with the mind reading. Our speaker knows his
horse is shaking his bells in order to "ask" his master
if something is awry, is there's a problem.
*It's kind of like the horse is saying, ("Hey, is
everything OK? We've been standing here staring at
nothing for a little while, and I just wanted to make
sure you didn't need me to keep on trucking'. I'm
cool with the standing still thing, but I just wanted to
make sure I wasn't misinterpreting you.")
Line 11
The only other sound's the sweep
Beyond the harness bells' shaking, the only
other sound that the speaker can hear is the
"sweep."
*The word "sweep" makes us think of the
sound brooms make when they sweep dust
into a dustpan.
*At this point, we realize that the speaker is
taking inventory of all of the sounds around
him. He's interested in sounds.
Line 12
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The sweeping noise comes from the
slight wind and the softly falling snow.
*Have you ever listened to snow falling?
It's very, very quiet. There's just a
gentle whirr. Everything is very, very
still.
Stanza IV (Lines 13-16)
Line 13
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
Our speaker finally admits to liking the
woods. We knew it all along. He's
entranced by the darkness and
deepness of the woods, and he thinks
they are lovely.
*Dark and deep woods are awesome in
our book, but they also make us feel
slightly anxious. There's something
mysterious about the maze-like nature
of woods and forests.
*The point, though, is that our speaker
digs these woods.
Line 14
But I have promises to keep,
Our speaker begins this line with the
word "but." The word "but" makes us
think that the speaker is contemplating
staying in these woods rather than
returning to the village to fulfill the
promises he's made.
*These promises may be things like,
"I'll be home for dinner, mom," or they
may be things like, "Let's get married,"
or "I will take care of you."
*Regardless of whether these are big
promises or little promises, our
speaker flirts momentarily with the
idea of breaking them, before deciding
against it.
Line 15
And miles to go before I sleep,
Our speaker really is in the middle of
nowhere, because he's still got a few miles
to go before he can rest his head on his
pillow. He better roll out soon.
*But we feel like we are well acquainted with
that feeling of being so far away from where
you need to be that it almost seems easier to
just give up and hang out.
Line 16
And miles to go before I sleep.
OK, so our speaker must really be far from
home, because he feels the need to repeat
the fact that he's got miles to go. (“Miles” is
too far for him to go. Three layers of meaning
here: he has to keep his promise and go
away form the woods; he is tired, and it is
snowing and dark without a farmhouse to
stay in, miles is a long way to go; he likes
this place, he does not want to leave, but
have to.)( answer to question 4 on p196)
*However, when he says the line a
second time, we hear the word "sleep"
more clearly than when we heard it in
the line before. Maybe that's because
"sleep" has the honor of wrapping up
the entire poem.
*In any case, this line makes us think of
how awesome it will be for our speaker
to finally rest his head on his pillow after
such a long trek.
Themes
*Isolation
*Choices
*Man and the Natural World

*Isolation
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is
a lonely poem, for our speaker finds himself
far away from any other human being. He
kind of digs this aloneness, however, and is
glad that no one is there to watch him. We
get the feeling that he'd rather be all by his
lonesome in the freezing cold than back in
the village. Nature helps make things even
lonelier, too, for it happens to be freezing
cold, snowing, and dark out there.
Quotes & Thoughts on Isolation (lines 3, 56, 11-12)
1) His house is in the village though (2)
Thought: Why does the owner of the woods
live in town and not near his woods? We've
heard of people owning land, but owning
woods seems like an entirely different matter.
When we hear the word "woods," we think of
an untamable, wild expanse. With this
second line, our speaker draws a clean line
between the village and the woods. They
are like oil and water.
2) And miles to go before I sleep. (15-16)
Thought: We've reached the end of the
poem, and we still don't know if our
speaker has a family or if anyone is
waiting up for him at home. The word "I"
appears five times throughout the poem,
and we get the feeling that our speaker
is one individualistic kind of guy.
*Choices
The speaker in "Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening" makes several choices,
many of which his dearly beloved horse does
not agree with. The biggest choice that he
wrestles with is whether to return to the
warmth and safety of the village or to stay
and watch the woods fill up with snow. Our
speaker does seem to have a hard time
making his decision. He ultimately decides to
return home, but it seems to take all of his
willpower.
*Quotes & Thoughts
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep, (13-14)
Thought: our speaker decides to
continue on his journey home. It would
seem that this is a particularly difficult
decision for him, because the lovely
and dark woods almost win out over the
promises that must be kept.
*Man and the Natural World
We're not going to lie: nature seems pretty darn
scary in this poem. Not scary like it's going to throw
thunderbolts at our speaker or let hungry tigers lose
on him, but scary in that it is mysterious and even
rather seductive. Our speaker is almost enticed into
staying and watching the woods fill up with snow,
but if he stays too long, we've got to believe that he
might freeze to death, catch a really bad cold, or
forget his way home. Nature is a beautiful siren in
this poem, compelling our speaker to hang out in
spite of the dangerous consequences.
Quotes & Thoughts
1) Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year. (7-8)
Thought: To us the word "frozen" is not such
a pleasant word. It makes us feel, well, cold,
and it makes us think of things like frostbite
and popsicles. This seems to be the first
semi-violent word in the poem, the first word
that reminds us of the dangers that lie behind
such a beautiful scene.
2) The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake. (11-12)
Thought: What does a sweeping noise
sound like? Well, when we say the word
"sweep" aloud, we can kind of hear a little
wind come out of our mouths. That ssss
noise along with the wwww noise creates a
little storm. It's quiet out here in the
wilderness, and this quiet almost becomes
another character, another presence.
*Literary device (technique)
Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay
Woods
The woods in this poem are something to
write home about. Our speaker can't get
enough of them, telling us that "the woods are
lovely, dark and deep" (13), as though he were
hypnotized. The woods must be all that and a
bag of chips, because our speaker is
compelled to stop and stare at them on the
freezing, dark winter evening.
There's a mysterious element to these
woods as well, and we get the sense
that the speaker is not alone, even
though he is very much by himself.
Whenever we see woods in literature,
we almost automatically see them in
contrast to civilization. If you've read
The Scarlet Letter, think about the
woods Hester Prynne frequents.
The Natural World
Our speaker is digging the natural
world. Picture him hanging out with his
horse, between a frozen lake and the
edge of the woods, while the snows
falls gently all around him. The ideas of
the village, of a farmhouse, or of the
promises he must keep are not nearly
as appetizing to our speaker as the
cold beauty of the world around him.
There's something very lulling about the
"easy wind and downy flake" (12), and
we get the sense that the natural world
is pretty compelling and pretty good at
convincing our speaker to forget about
civilization. Nature is powerful in this
poem.
(*Lines 6-8: With these lines, we get a
crystal clear image of the snowy woods
and frozen lake at night.
*Line 11: We can almost hear the sound
of the wind in the alliteration of "sound's
the sweep."
*Line 13: While the fact that the woods
are "lovely, dark and deep" might not
seem visually helpful, this description
actually helps us visualize the image of
the woods even more clearly. )
Others
*Line 2: The "village" can be interpreted as a
symbol for society and civilization.
*Line 5: Horses have thoughts? We knew it all
along. The horse is personified in this line.
*Line 6: Farmhouses may not be the most hoppin'
places in the world, but they do usually involve
people. Because of this, the farmhouse that our
speaker mentions seems like a symbol for
society and civilization.
*Line 10: Giving his harness bells a shake, the
horse is personified once more as he asks "if
there is some mistake."
*Form and Meter
Rubaiyat Stanza, Iambic Tetrameter.
You may or may not have noticed that "Stopping by
Woods on a Snowy Evening" has a nice ring to it,
almost like a song. There's rhythm and there's
reason, and even some rhyming in this poem.
Composed of four four-lined stanzas, this poem is a
classic example of the Rubaiyat Stanza. Do not be
scared by the number of vowels in that word.
"Rubaiyat" is a beautiful Persian word for
"quatrain," which means a stanza composed of four
lines. The Rubaiyat Stanza has a rhyme scheme of
AABA, BBCB, CCDC, :DDDD.
*About the title
The title sounds to us like it would work nicely
as a title for a painting, and we can easily
imagine (even before reading the poem)
gazing at a framed oil painting in a carefully
lit museum that shows a figure paused in a
dark and snowy landscape. The "-ing"
ending to the word "stopping" (making it, in
fancy grammatical terms, a gerund) gives us
the sense of the immediate present, as
though we are just now watching our
speaker stop to take a gander at the woods.
This "-ing" ending also makes us feel as if
things are in motion, and as if the speaker is
in the middle of a journey or task.
If we were to award a gold medal to the word
in this title with the juiciest meaning, the
word "by" would be the lucky winner. When
we think of woods, we imagine being in
them, surrounded by trees.
However, our speaker is not in the midst of a
great forest: he's actually just next to the
woods and staring at the trees. Staring at
woods strikes us as just a wee bit strange.
We can imagine hanging out with trees,
because trees are cool. But our speaker is
on the periphery of the woods; he's separate
from them. Before we begin the poem, Frost
makes us aware of the fact that the speaker
is not inside the woods, but is rather beside
them.
-the end