Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening is a poem dealing with so universal abstracts of human being

1. “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening”
Robert Frost
Gobindo Deb
Lecturer
Department of English
Hamdard University Bangladesh

2. About the poem
• Written: in 1922
• Published: in 1923 (a part of collection “New Hampshire”)
• Narrative Perspective: A traveler’s perspective
• Written in : Iambic tetrameter
• Focus on: Conflict between wish and obligation or reality
‘My best bid for remembrance’- Robert Frost

7. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know. - A
His house is in the village though;- A
He will not see me stopping here - B
To watch his woods fill up with snow. - A
My little horse must think it queer - B
To stop without a farmhouse near - B
Between the woods and frozen lake - C
The darkest evening of the year. - B
He gives his harness bells a shake - C
To ask if there is some mistake. - C
The only other sound’s the sweep - D
Of easy wind and downy flake. - C
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, - D
But I have promises to keep, - D
And miles to go before I sleep, - D
And miles to go before I sleep. - D

8. Themes
• Isolation
- To find own comfort in isolation
• Duty/ Responsibility or social obligations and individualism
- Surrender of peace and comfort or personal desire in isolation to
obligation
• The Tranquility of Nature
- Nature is always a comfort zone for getting peace and serenity.

9. Literary Devices
• Metaphor
“Miles to go before I sleep
And miles to before I sleep.”
• Personification
- Thinking power of the horse
“He gives his harness bells a shake/ to ask if there is some mistake.”
Imagery:
Whose woods these are I think I know. - A
His house is in the village though;- A
He will not see me stopping here - B
To watch his woods fill up with snow. - A
My little horse must think it queer - B
To stop without a farmhouse near - B
Between the woods and frozen lake - C
The darkest evening of the year. - B
He gives his harness bells a shake - C
To ask if there is some mistake. - C
The only other sound’s the sweep - D
Of easy wind and downy flake. - C

10. Literary Devices
• Alliteration
/w/, /wh/ and /s/ sounds. The following phrases are examples of
alliteration from the poem: “watch his woods”, “sound’s the sweep”,
“His house”.
• Assonance:
/e/ and /i/ come in quick succession in “he will not see me stopping”
and in “he gives his harness bells a shake.”

11. Structure of the poem
Stanza:
4 stanza with 4 lines in each stanza=Quatrains
Meter:
- Iambic tetrameter (unstressed-stressed)- 8 syllables with 4 beats
Rhyme scheme:
AABA, BBCB, CCDC, DDDD
Rubaiyat Stanza Structure
Four-line stanzas in poetry are commonly referred to as quatrains. Quatrains written
in iambic tetrameter (or pentameter) with a rhyme scheme of aaba are known as
Rubaiyat stanzas. While the first three quatrains in the poem are Rubaiyat stanzas,
the fourth and final is not.
Tone:
#serene and contemplative
#uneasy or even depressed

12. Stopping by Woods" in Culture and Media
• Frost was one of President John F. Kennedy's favorite poets. After the president's
death in 1963, journalist Sid Davis recited several lines of the poem to conclude a
broadcast report focused on the delivery of the president's casket to the White
House.
• Canadian politician Justin Trudeau adapted the last few lines of the poem and
included them in a eulogy he delivered at the funeral of his father, former Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau. The modified final stanza was spoken, "The woods are
lovely, dark and deep. He has kept his promises and earned his sleep."
• In director Quentin Tarantino's exploitation horror film, Death Proof, a character
named Stuntman Mike recites the last stanza of the poem to a character named
Arlene in exchange for a lap dance.
• The final lines of the poem were used as code words to incite violence from
Russian sleeper agents in the U.S. in the 1977 espionage film, Teflon.