Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost wrote this poem in 1922 and it was published in 1923. His favorite poem that he himself had written, he regarded it as his best chance at remembrance and as his best and final statement. Having heard much speculation on what his poem was about, Frost outright dismissed the idea that his poem was about death. Theoretically whether you believe it is or not would go back to the critical theories of literature—who defines the text, the reader or the author? Ultimately it is both.
One of the most read poems in the world, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, is an American literary classic. With so many different perspectives people have many different interpretations of what the poem really means. Some see the poem as a nod to nature; others see it as a wish for death. The meaning behind Frost’s poem is somewhere in between—not a wish for death, and not simply capturing the beauty of a winter’s day. Frost uses his poem as a commentary on a compromise between human nature and nature.
The poem is written using the Rubaiyat stanza; the rhyming scheme being:
a a b a / b b c b / c c d c/ d d d d. The four stanzas are all composed in iambic tetrameter. These aspects create a very peaceful cadence in the work which lends to the overall tone and feeling being expressed. The author’s word choices also relay the idea of a peaceful calm, using words such as “frozen” “darkest” and phrases such as “easy wind and downy flake. (Frost 7,8,12)” The poem has very evident Romantic characteristics, such as its focus on nature and the woods, and the solitude of the speaker of the poem.
There are two specific interpretations of this poem that people tend to lean towards first. The first of these is the belief that Frost is simply praising nature; sort of a nod to transcendentalist writers before him like Thoreau or Emerson. The second, which is far more controversial, is that the speaker is tantalized by the idea of death while out in the woods by himself. Admittedly, the poem is dark and has vocabulary that suggests a sort of longing for a ‘frozen peace.’ When first reading the poem, this explanation seems the most logical. Instead of using the word “longest” the author uses the word “darkest” to refer to December 21. Using the word “frozen” in itself has its own connotation, coupled with the tone of the poem—almost as if suggesting a corpse. The most persuasive part of the poem for this interpretation is the last stanza, “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. (Frost 13-16)” The stanza suggests the idea that something dark and deep would be lovely—it plays on the connection the reader automatically makes between ‘eternal sleep’ and the adjectives ‘dark and deep.’ In this interpretation the speaker turns away, thinking of the promises he has to keep to others or to himself; either way the obligations he must fulfill before he ‘sleeps’—or dies.
My first interpretation of Frost’s poem centered around thoughts of death and suicide as well, as they are so easily discernable, however ultimately I have come to the conclusion that Frost’s poem is not about death but instead about the nature of man. The first point which makes me consider an alternate interpretation is the fact that “Mr. Frost himself at a public lecture pooh-pooh[ed] the death-wish interpretation. (Armstrong 440)” Of course, as Mr. Armstrong points out, we do not have to take Mr. Frost’s input as the final word since there are many reasons authors do not acknowledge the presence of meanings in their work. Yet Mr. Frost’s denial does suggest there may be an alternate reading. Looking at the poem again, I wondered at the presence of the horse and the speaker’s preoccupation with the solitude nature could provide. At first, my initial response to the lines “He will not see me stopping here/ to watch his woods fill up with snow” (3-4) was that the speaker was alone. Within the context of the poem and the fact that the speaker believes the woods are “lovely, dark and deep” it could be a commentary on Man vs. Nature. The man who owns the land owns a town in a village, and cannot see the beautiful sight of his woods filling with snow. The speaker could be pointing out the lack of appreciation for nature instead of contemplating death. I would agree the speaker is tired and fed up with something, but not life—instead it’s the demands of society, the conformity and obligation required of him. The horse, inexplicable in the death-wish interpretation, seems to function in two ways. First, the horse is a product of nature which seems to be at odds with human nature, shown by the horse’s domestication. Second, the horse serves as a sort of middle ground between the speaker and nature as the horse is both part of nature and part of society. It is a representation of man’s relationship with nature. The end of the poem, rather than being a call back to life, is a call back to society. Nature is beautiful and calming, it doesn’t ask much of us as people; but humans are social creatures and inevitably must be part of a society—and for that there is a price to pay. Obligation, duty, and “promises to keep” are the price we pay for our social nature. The final two lines are repeated; once literally “miles to go” before he sleeps, the second many obligations to fulfill before he is done.
In an interview Mr. Frost said of this poem that “he meant precisely what he said. The critics and professors had been exaggerating the significance of outlines, first drafts, or elaborately revised manuscripts. (O’Donnell 233)” Though Mr. Frost may not have meant his poem to carry all the different meanings and interpretations attributed to it, it nevertheless does now also carry those meanings attributed to it. We cannot, however, assert the idea that the author’s intention doesn’t matter—it is simply another interpretation to add to the pile.
Works Cited
Armstrong, James. "The 'Death Wish' in 'Stopping by Woods'." JSTOR. College English, 25.6 (1964): 440+445. 15 September 2010.
Frost, Robert. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." http://www.ketzle.com/frost/snowyeve.htm. 15 September 2010.
O'Donnell, William. "Talking About Poems with Robert Frost." JSTOR. The Massachusetts Review, 39.2 (1998): 225-249. 15 September 2010.
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