Robert Frost
Robert Frost has been called “the American Bard,” “a national celebrity,” “our nearly Poet
Laureate,” and has been compared to Mark Twain. Frost, who was born in 1874 and died 50 years
ago in 1963, began writing poetry as a teenager in New England, but it was not until moving to
England, where publishers were purportedly more receptive of new literary talent, that he
managed to break into the literary scene. A long and winding road preceded Frost’s success. He
never completed a university degree; he worked as a teacher, a cobbler and a farmer to
support his family; at the age of 40 he still had not published a book of poems. And yet he
became America’s most celebrated poet of the 20th century and a four-time winner of the
Pulitzer Prize (awarded for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and
musical composition).
Some hallmarks of Frost’s poetry are the use of colloquialisms, identification with nature, New
England landscapes, humor, irony and metaphors. He used traditional verse forms and metrics,
did not associate himself with modern poetry movements but was still so much more than
simply a regional poet.
In the spirit of winter, let’s take a look at Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
This poem was written in 1923, by which time Frost was already America’s most celebrated poet.
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Look at the rhyming scheme. Which rhyming pattern does the poem use?
Convert the poem to prose. “On a dark winter evening…”
Interpret the poem line for line. Write your short interpretation to the right of each line.
Why do you think the last line is repeated? Which other lines of the poem support your
interpretation?
And in the spirit of the New Year, let’s look at another of his best-known poems “The Road Not
Taken.” This poem was written in 1916 – just after Frost had returned to the United States from
his three-year stay in England.
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Look at the rhyming scheme. Which rhyming pattern does the poem use?
Convert the poem to prose. “A person is standing…”
Explain the poem, using the road as a metaphor for life.
Often this poem is referred to by a line in the last stanza “The Road Less Traveled By”
instead of its real title “The Road Not Taken.” Which title do you feel is more accurate and
why?
9. How does the narrator rearrange the facts? Why does she do this?
10. How would you interpret the sigh in the last stanza: as ambivalence, regret or relief or
something else?
11. Do you agree with this central message of the poem? There is no right path or wrong
path, just the chosen path and the other path. What does this have to do with New Year’s
resolutions? Support your opinion.
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2013 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
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Autorin: Jennifer Baer-Engel, Göppingen
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Teacher’s page: Robert Frost
Print out a copy of both poems for each of your students. You can do that for free from this
website. http://www.poets.org
Neither persona is tied to a particular gender. We will treat the first one as a man and the
second one as a woman, but there is no evidence supporting either interpretation.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
1. A-A-B-A; last stanza D-D-D-D. This is the answer which your students are likely to give.
Encourage them to look more carefully at the rhyming scheme not just stanza for stanza but
in the poem as a whole. What do you notice? (A-A-B-A, B-B-C-B, C-C-D-C, D-D-D-D) What
appears at first glance to be a very simple poem is indeed technically more complex. The third
line rhymes with the first, second and fourth lines of the following stanza.
2. Suggestion:
On a dark winter evening a person is riding his horse when he suddenly stops. The spot where
he chooses to stop is a lonely spot where no one lives. There is only a lake and the woods. The
man quietly watches the snow falling and listens to the sounds of the winter night, but his
horse gets impatient. The horse doesn’t understand why the man would stop where there is
neither farmhouse nor farm. The animal is not affected by the beauty of the scene. The man
may be thinking about his life as part of the cycle of nature or in other philosophical terms,
something the animal obviously cannot do. The horse’s
movement brings the man back from his daydreaming and he remembers that they should be
moving on. There are things that he needs to do. It is late and he must continue on his way. He
has a long way to travel before he can go to bed for the night.
3. Suggestion:
the woods don’t belong to the narrator
the narrator feels relief that the owner is not present
the narrator can be completely alone, not bothered
a pointless, mindless stop, just for the aesthetics
narrator knows he’s being frivolous, projects feeling onto horse
no point in stopping here
emphasizes remoteness of the spot
shortly before Christmas, Dec. 21, ominous
narrator’s daydreaming is interrupted
horse is personified, remains business-like, factual, to the point
narrator is not quite done daydreaming yet
still fantasizing and enjoying the quiet scene
still reflecting, he feels attracted to the woods
brought back to reality by obligations calling
responsibility weighs heavy on him
reminds himself that he must go on, return.
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2013 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten.
Autorin: Jennifer Baer-Engel, Göppingen
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Teacher’s page: Robert Frost
4. Possible interpretations:
a) The repetition signifies the end, finality. There is no further stanza. The word at the end of the
third line has nothing more to rhyme with. This could be seen as a depressing ending foreshadowing death. “The darkest evening of the year” fits this mood as well as the line “The woods are
lovely, dark and deep.” The narrator feels the woods pulling him in, telling him not to continue
but to end his journey there.
b) The narrator has a difficult time ahead of him. The line is repeated to emphasize the trouble in
the future. The word “sleep” could be interpreted as “rest” or “relief”. The poem says “But I have
promises to keep.” Perhaps he knows that he is unable keep these promises and will disappoint
people who are depending on him. He sees a difficult road ahead of him.
c) It could be seen as a positive ending. The narrator is looking forward to arriving at his destination and to the reward of a restful night. The lines “Of easy wind and downy flake” and “The
woods are lovely, dark and deep” emphasize the peace he has found during his short, unplanned
stop. These things motivate him to go on even though he knows it’s still a long way.
The Road Not Taken
A recording of this poem being read by Robert Frost is on the poets.org page.
5. A-B-A-A-B
6. Suggestion:
A person is standing at a fork in the road, trying to decide which path to take. She regrets that she
can’t take both paths. She follows one path with her eyes as far as she can and then decides to
take the other path though it looks just as good. Neither path appears to have been used much.
She decides to use the first path at a later time but realizes she may never return to this place
again. She imagines talking about this incident later on in her life and how her choice may have
made a big difference in her life.
7. Suggestion:
Life is a road along which we must travel. Sometimes we know where the road is going and other
times we don’t. There can be forks in the road, and we must decide which road to take, which
decision to make.
8. Suggestions:
a) I think the title “The Road Less Traveled By” would be more accurate because this is what is
emphasized in the last stanza of the poem. The narrator feels that she chose the path that was not
used as much and this had a great impact on her life.
b) I think the original title is accurate because almost the entire poem is about the equality of
the two paths. The narrator couldn’t just stand there; she had to make a decision. She could only
make one decision – to take one path and not the other. She regrets not being able to take both.
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2013 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten.
Autorin: Jennifer Baer-Engel, Göppingen
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Teacher’s page: Robert Frost
9. Suggestion:
In the last stanza the narrator rearranges the facts by calling the path she chose the “one less
traveled by” when in fact she reports that the paths were equally used (“as just as fair” and “Had
worn them really about the same, / And both that morning equally lay”). I think she did this to
focus on the great impact that this decision had on her life. Maybe looking back she really does feel
that her path was the one less traveled by. In hindsight it is often easier to perceive the
significance of an event.
10. Suggestions:
a) The sigh happens at a later stage in the narrator’s life (“Somewhere ages and ages hence”). To
me the sigh sounds like a satisfied sigh. Earlier in the poem she regrets not being able to take both
roads, but here she is satisfied with her decision and gives it great importance (“that has made all
the difference”).
b) This sigh of an old woman could be understood as regret. Just because her decision long ago
“made all the difference” doesn’t automatically mean that this difference has been good. Her pause
in the third line and repetition of “I” indicates some hesitation, which could also signify regret.
c) Years later when the woman is talking about her decision, she is sighing with relief that her decision made so long ago has proven to have been the right one. She sees now, in hindsight, that the
less-traveled path was the right one for her.
11. Suggestions:
a) I agree with this central message. The narrator tells us in the poem that the paths are essentially the same. It is important what you make of the path. You can make any path right for yourself.
You have to live with your choice and make the best of it. Often people use the New Year to make
promises to themselves about how they are going to change their lives. They make these decisions,
choose their path and follow their dreams. If they change their mind later, they think they can
always backtrack or simply change direction.
b) I disagree with this central message. It is important to consider all the options before you make
a decision that could influence your whole life. If you don’t consider things carefully, you could
choose the wrong path and regret it for the rest of your life. The narrator sighing about her decision
in the last stanza indicates that she made the wrong decision. Choosing a path is like making a New
Year’s resolution. Often people don’t put much thought into it and they often don’t keep their
resolutions. They regret what they promised. There are right and wrong paths and the decision
should not be made frivolously.
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2013 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten.
Autorin: Jennifer Baer-Engel, Göppingen
4