Poetry Essay

The poem Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening is a short, simple, and intriguing poem. At first glance, this poem appears to be quite literal. The narrator stops to enjoy the beauty of the woods he is passing. He is almost certain he knows the owner of the land, and that he lives in the village. "He will not see me stopping here" Surely the owner will not mind if he pauses for a moment and takes in the beauty of these dark woods and the beautiful falling snow? He mentions that his horse must be wondering why he has stopped "Between the woods and frozen lake, The darkest evening of the year" The author is making a reference to the time of year. The darkest evening is in the heart of winter, so I imagine the snow is really coming down. It makes sense then that in the next line the horse attempts to get the narrator's attention as if to say "Hey! Let's go, I'm freezing out here!" He mentions that the only other sounds are "Of easy wind and downy flake." This lack of any other sound may be interpreted that they are quite far from another village, another reason for the horse to break the narrator's reverie. The narrator goes on to mention, "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep" I imagine here that the narrator has already spent quite some time on the horse, perhaps traveling from far away to deliver a message to someone in the village; they are awaiting this news and he must keep going. The narrator goes on, "And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." I suddenly feel there is a dark twist to the poem, and these last two lines are the culprit. The words in and of themselves are not what are foreboding, it is the fact that they are repeated. This is not a simple poem anymore, I must read it again!

A second run through of this poem with the last two lines still echoing in my head lends a completely different meaning to the poem. I cannot help but put a deep, dark twist to a poem that was initially simple and delightful! Once again I picture the narrator on his horse. However this time I see him wounded - perhaps slumped over and barely hanging on. "Whose woods these are I think I know/His house is in the village though" He needs help, he knows who owns the woods but the owner's house is in the village, nowhere near here. "He will not see me stopping here /To watch his woods fill up with snow" If he succumbs to his wounds and falls off his horse, no one is around for miles to offer help. It is at this point in the poem that it strikes me that the woods may be symbolizing irrationality - perhaps from the pain of his wounds. It is because of this that I see in the phrase "Between the woods and frozen lake" as being caught between two worlds, or consciousness and unconsciousness. I see him slowly losing the battle between life and death in the next line "The