Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

NameProfessor
Subject
Date
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening: Outline
The poem stopping by the woods on a snowy evening by Robert Frost consists of four quatrains and a simple central narrative. Its scene is understated without emphasis. In the poem, the narrator stops to admire the woods on a snowy evening. As he is admiring the woods, he reflects on whether the owner of the woods is watching him, but later his reflections are interrupted by his imaginations of what his little horse was thinking. He thinks that the horse is thinking it is weird to stop by the woods on such a dark evening. He furthermore notes that the horse was shaking his harness bells as a result of the anxiety and by contrast, he realizes that the only other sound in the woods is of the sweeping wind and downy flake.
The narrator’s interests are compelled by nature of the woods, and at the end of the poem, one can tell that there is more than just the woods. In fact, the narrator seems to be reluctant in proceeding with his journey and only proceeds after realizing that he has a promise to keep. Although he recognizes that the woods are lovely, his central focus is not the beauty of the woods. Rather, there is more of an inner drama which the speaker is reflecting in his minds but fails to understand why he stopped by the woods and why he found the woods to be so attractive. As a result of the speaker’s ambivalence, there is little to learn from the poem regarding where the narrator was coming from, where he was going, and why he stopped at the woods.

Essay
In literature, some poets are renowned for creating graceful and stylish sceneries that revolve around the beauty of nature using fairly simple and straightforward language. As one of the renowned poets, Robert Frost portrays his uncanny ability to use such techniques to create a scene that feels like it is not imagined in his poem stopping by the woods on a snowy evening. Robert Frost’s poem stopping by the woods on a snowy evening demonstrates how poets manipulate symbolism, imagery, and allegory to appreciate the beauty of nature as well as use dark metaphors to explain death. Frost accomplishes these tasks in one hundred and eight words as discussed in this paper.
Frost to a large extent uses the woods to symbolize the narrator’s love of nature as well as the mysterious element associated with woods. He shows his passion for the woods by stating that “the woods are lovely, dark and deep” () as if he was mesmerized. It is because of their beauty that he is compelled to stop and admire them despite being a freezing and dark winter evening. Apart from the beauty, a hidden, mysterious element is attached to the woods. Even the horse thinks it is weird to stop in the woods and he begins to shake his harness bells (). Hence in the poem, they can be viewed as a metaphor for death.
Frost poem uses imagery to appeal to the senses of the readers as well as create symbols that help the reader understand the meaning of the poem. He develops visual images when he stops “to watch the woods fill up with snow” (4). From the description, the reader can picture the scene of the woods as the snow piles higher and higher as if they could fill with snow like a container. The reader can also picture the narrator hanging out with his horse, standing between the frozen lake and the extremity of the wood. The reader can also capture the image of the falling gently and fill the woods. Furthermore, the “easy wind and downy flake” (12) give the reader an auditory sense of the beauty of the natural world. Nature becomes a power element in the poem and lures the speaker to do away with civilization. Also, the description of the woods as lovely, dark, and deep helps the reader visualize the image of the woods more clearly. Thus, Frost manipulates visual imagery as well as auditory images to show the beauty of nature.
The entire poem by Frost can be considered to be an allegory or an extended metaphor with inner meaning. The phrases, the images, and the symbols used have an inner meaning added to their surface meaning. For instance, the sleep symbolizes death while the promises have a hidden meaning of life. Since the woods have a strange element, the speaker cannot enjoy staring at the beauty of the woods which lures him to die as to have peace. Hence, he chooses to accomplish his responsibilities before he dies by restraining from the temptations.
From the poem, it is evident that Frost manipulates symbolism, imagery, and allegory to appreciate the beauty of nature as well as use dark metaphors to explain death. The woods are the most symbolic elements in the poem as they symbolize the beauty of nature and life, as well as the mysteries of death.

Work Cited
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Chapbook. 23.36 (1923): 3. Print.