“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

The poem, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’’ by Robert Frost, I read during my school days (18-20 years back). I love poems. Not many people know this. I could not understand this poem at once. I was 13 year old boy then. But it took me many reading attempts to see the many meaning this poem could offer. I have my explanation of this poem. Many others would say differently. But then they are poems. They are metaphoric and you are left to discern meanings by your own.

Words are very powerful. I strongly believe that. When I look back in my life, I see it’s the words from books, words from people, good and bad, which have influence my psyche, my life, and have made me… me. This poem was one of them. This poem made me understand the very less time I have in life to do things I love and I must do, before I sleep (in the word of Robert frost).

I lost touch with poems. My bad. Today, while browsing the internet, once again I came across it again. I could felt the same joy again, when I was a school boy. I told you, words are very powerful. I could not stop myself from sharing this great literary piece. This is a beautiful poem with a deeper meaning. It goes like this:

New Hampshire is a 1923 Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of poems written by Robert Frost. The book included several of Frost’s most well-known poems, including “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.
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.

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.

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.

Having said about the mesmerising but the dangerous seductiveness of the woods, Robert frost tells that although he is lured by the charm of the woods, he seems to be trying to shake himself back into the real world and his societal responsibilities for the mundane world that he is a part of.

The last three lines show a major change in poet’s perception. He does not allow himself to fall to temptation of the sublime beauty of nature and of death, although he stops while to halt his journey for a while and consider it. The last line is repeated. It may seem little more than a literal reference. The repetition gives it particular meaning and kind of momentum to the poem.

To me this poem points to the metaphorical reference to the brief span of human life, the peace which comes after death and the compulsion to take risks and explore the truth while one can.