A generation ago, when I was in high school, that poem was a staple of 10th-grade English literature classes; whether it still is I do not know. Anyway, there were always moody teenagers who seemed to think the poem was about a man about to die, or considering suicide, or something else Thanatos-related. Such persons were, of course, all nincompoops. The poem is clearly about the tension between taking time to appreciate beauty – that is, indulging oneself in the things that make life living – and fulfilling one’s duty to others (that is, doing the things that make life possible.
That’s my position, anyway. You’re welcome to argue the contrary, and I won’t even throw pies at anyone who disagrees.
I agree. I can see the “contemplating suicide” reading, but I think it’s a strained one (and high school lit classes have a bias toward making everything about Doom and Gloom, in part because Doom and Gloom are easy to talk about).
The first draft didn’t include the repeating last line in the last paragraph, but rather delved into something a little more base:
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
But first I gotta stop to take a leak.”
But seriously, it’s about finding a moment to restore your energy before setting to a task, and that the peacefulness of nature is the perfect place to do so (and the muted hush of a wintry woods being about the most perfect example of peacefulness and quiet).
Growing up in Illinois, it was pretty much mandatory to read almost all of Robert Frost’s poetry.
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening was always popular. Yeah, there were the gloom and doomers who saw it as some tragic moment.
I always thought it was filled with promise - leaving the old behind and moving on…"…and miles to go before I sleep…" seemed to give me that road map I needed to flee Illinois and head off to Europe and parts unknown.
I once took a test in which we were offered a choice of four poems to analyze. We were told that they were graduated in difficulty, with one being the simplest and one being the most complex. I wanted to write about the most complex poem, and looking through them, I decided that it must be “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I proceeded to write some deep existential analysis of the poem. I think I did O.K. on the test, but afterward the teacher explained that the Frost poem was in fact the simplest one on the test, because it was about walking in the woods. :smack:
I always thought the poem was about slowing down and taking a little time to appreciate things you see all around you but might not always pay attention to.
I can’t agree, at least not entirely. “My Last Duchess” is not an instruction manual on being a good husband; “Eros Turannos” is not about being happy in one’s love affair; the song “Because of You” by that girl from American Idol whose name I don’t know is not about finding true love.
Which is obvious. The question is whether the poem is about an adulterous affair (the woods representing the cuckold’s wife’s pubes)or a contemplated homosexual one (“My little horse must think it queer…”).
By the by, is “Robert B. Frost” any relation to Johnny B. Goode?
“Way down New Hampshire, close to Peterborough
There was a little horse I rode into the snow,
pranced around until we got cold and lost,
and that is why they call me Robert B. Frost…”
I think a strong case could be made that this is a poem about despair. He doesn’t just have promises, he has miles to go. And miles. The woods are a sanctuary and refuge. Solitary but owned. Safe. But the speaker is not allowed to rest. The speaker, with that repetition of miles, may never be allowed to rest.
There’s no evidence that the incident takes place on the solstice. And given the default assumption that any Frost poem whose settingis not specified takes place in New England, isn’t it just as likely that it took place anywhere from late September to mid March?
Honestly, I don’t know how Northerners deal with snow. That stuff looks dangerous.
