Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, can surely be deemed as one of the very finest works in the history of English literature. This poem exudes the quintessence of the literary artist. The poet leaves a lasting impression on the minds of the avid readers with the excellent use of the literary techniques and aesthetic appeal that permeates through the entire poetic work. Surely a close scrutiny of this poem would enable one to understand how the literary work appeals with all its uniqueness. “Much ink has been spilled on many pages in exegesis of this poem. Actually, critical jottings have only obscured what has lain beneath critical noses all these years.” (Coursen, Jr. 236) The poem shows the dichotomy of the human mind when it comes to drinking the elixir of life via aesthetic experience and the mundane chores and responsibilities that encompass one’s existence.
It needs to be reckoned that on the surface, this poetic work is quite simple. The readers come to find that the speaker of this poem is stopping by some woods on an evening. “To say that the poem means merely that a man stops one night to observe a snowfall, or that the poem contrasts the mundane desire for creature comfort with the sweep of aesthetic appreciation” would leave many more subtleties of the poem unexplored. (Coursen, Jr. 236) The poet pens,
“Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
The speaker imbibes the aesthetic experience of being there at that moment with utmost bliss. The speaker is found to be tempted by the unparalleled sight to stay there longer. However, the onus of obligations and responsibilities in life makes the speaker embark upon the journey once again. The readers come to know that the speaker has quite a long distance to travel still before resting oneself for the night. Thus, the poem seems to be the aesthetic expression of a commonplace occurrence in a day’s routine in the life of the speaker. The speaker uses an informal tone all through the course of the poem. The poet pens,
My little horse must think it queer
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year. (Frost 1)
But, it is through this informality that the poet engages in discussing about the journey of life. The poet points to the fact that the routines and chores of life have engulfed the existence and time of people so much that a person is unable to spare considerable time to imbibe and experience the beauty of the world.
One gets to realize that the poem delves into the importance of isolation from the cacophony and humdrums of human civilization to be able to experience the true happiness of the aesthetic experience as explicated by the speaker of this poem. The readers get the feeling that the speaker would rather be happy to spend more time in the midst of the unparalleled beauty of nature on that snowy evening than being back to the village. The isolation from the human world lets the speaker experience the escapade that makes him or her witness the beauty of nature and the true meaning of bliss and happiness in life. There can be no doubt that the poem is also about the importance of making choices in one’s life. The speaker of this poem makes a number of unconventional choices. He does not normally stop at that place. Neither there is anything out-of-the-world there that could have made him stop. The horse on which the speaker is riding does not seem to be in compliance with the choices and endeavors to voice its skepticism in its own way. The poet pens, “He gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake” to show how the horse portrays its skepticism about standing in the woods on that snowy evening for apparently no common reason. (Frost 1) Thus, it is comprehensible that the action of the speaker is quite weird as he opted to stop at a place that seems to be of no relevance to him at all. The speaker is ultimately reminded of the long road ahead in the journey- something that makes him or her to leave the place where he or she had stopped for some time.
Mother Nature works as the metaphor for all the aesthetic and immaterialist things that life has in store for humans. This is a poem about the difference between experience beauty in leisure and the onus of responsibilities in life. The journey on the horse is a metaphor for the journey of life as a whole. As such, when the speaker leaves the place, he or she opines,
“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 1)
The poem portrays how the decisions of life are shaped by the vaired responsibilities and expectations. The poem shows the dichotomy of the mind as the individual is torn between the responsibilities of life and the blissful immaterial experience that stirs the mind and makes one drink the ultimate elixir of life. It has to be noted that the speaker finds the aesthetic pleasure of life away from the society. The speaker admits of the immense beauty of the woods, but has to give in to his mundane role in life. Although he or she is destined to return to the village travelling on the horse, the experience of waiting at the woods for the little span of time stays with the speaker with all its resonance. Coursen Jr. points to the fact that the speaker is simply a prototypical character who “stands for entire humanity and his actions and experiences resonate that of every human” caught up in the chores of life. (Coursen Jr. 238)
It would be correct to opine that the poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” penned by Robert Frost stirs the avid audience to think about the true value of life and all the great experiences that people might be missing out on due to the varied responsibilities of life. While the poet does not undermine the importance of conventions of life, he succeeds in channelizing the thoughts of the readers toward the other side of life that remains secondary in comparison to the other duties and chores of life. Thus, the poem is surely a great work of literature that portray the intricacies and subtleties of life and emotions with all the simplicity of language and content.
Works Cited
Coursen, Jr., Herbert R. “The Ghost of Christmas past: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening.” College English 24.3 (1962): 236-238.
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Poetry Foundation.
poetryfoundation.org, n.d. Web. 21 March 2016.
