Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

The poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is written by Robert Frost.   It is about the speaker who is taking a walk in the woods on a snowy day.   The speaker is admiring the view of the snow-covered woods, and insists to stay longer to appreciate it, but knows that he or she has to find the nearest farmhouse to rest for the night.   It seems as if the man has some kind of responsibility because of the line “But I have promises to keep”.

The poem seems to be very simplistic, but elusive at the same time.   You have a male character who; during the darkest evening of the year, stops to check out the scenery.  Although the woods seem to be dark, scary, and deep; the speaker also insists that the woods are lovely as well.   There is a sense of peacefulness as the snow continues to fall throughout the woods.    The horse in the poem shows that it isn’t distracted by the view and wonders why the man stops in the middle of the road.  

This poem consists of four identical stanzas and has eight syllables for each line.   Within each stanza, the first, second, and four lines rhyme.   The third line is by itself, but it sets up the next stanza.   The last stanza is the only one that is different from the others since all of the lines rhyme.  The first three stanzas are in a “AABA” scale.  

At the end of the poem, it seems as if the speaker tries to wake up from his daydream about the woods and to go back to his house in the village.   The last stanza gives a sense that the speaker is trying to stop himself from being distracted and to go home and sleep where he can dream forever.