Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

In the poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost shows us his love of nature. The pictures he uses makes the reader feel he is part of the very woods themselves. The author uses the imagery of a man on a winter journey to portray the inner conflict of the peacefulness of nature versus the fulfilling of daily responsibilities in life.

At the outset of the poem, the speaker is indentified as a man who is taking a journey. The traveler seems to think that it is all right to stop near this property as we see that the owner of these woods is someone whose “house is in the village,” (2). The trip the man is setting out on appears to be a lengthy one as expressed in the last lines, “…and miles to go before I sleep” (15), and so he pauses in the woods to take a short rest. The man, who is accompanied by his horse, is fascinated by the beauty of the falling snow filling the forest landscape. His horse, however, is driven by his inner instinct to move on. Although the traveler would love to stay longer to enjoy the peace and tranquility that exists, he realizes that he needs to attend to his duties and obligations. He will not give up on them. The woods are described as “lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep…” (13-14). He is a man of strong conviction and is loyal to his word.

The season is winter, the time is night, and the place is the woods. The traveller in this poetic piece of literature finds himself caught up in the peace, tranquility, darkness and silence of the woods. The beauty of the falling snow can be seen and felt when the speaker states, “to watch his woods fill up with snow,” (4). The speaker is magnetized by the “lovely, dark, and deep…” (13) woods. He sees himself having left the busyness of everyday life and now enjoying the undisturbed atmosphere that the woods bring. The silence makes the speaker sense a complete separation from all other aspects of reality. There are no other sounds, the traveler says, but the “sweep of easy wind and downy flake,” (11-12). This temporary pause in the woods brings calm to his mind and heart.

In the midst of this long journey, the traveler does not want to have to leave the serenity and beauty of this place. There’s