thank you hello in this poem we're discussing one of the most famous poems in English and American literature it's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening written by the American poet Robert Frost It Was Written in 1922 and published in 1923 in a collection of his poems called New Hampshire the poem is told by a traveler who stops his journey to watch the snowfall in a landscape of woods and beside a frozen lake The Traveler uses the opportunity to reflect on his own life the poem also reflects Frost's own troubled life and the great uncertainty many artists faced following the first World War but more of that later before we start if you haven't yet subscribed to our Channel it would be greatly appreciated if you would many many thanks I have the poem here so let's start whose words these are I think I know his house is in the village though he will not see me stopping here to watch his words fill up with snow my little horse must think it queer to stop without a farmhouse near between the woods and frozen lake the darkest evening of the year he gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake the only other sounds The Sweep of easy wind and Downy flake 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 if you found the poem melodic and rhythmic it's because Frost was a superb crafter of poems and Stopping by Woods is written in perfect iambic tetramatta Frost uses a tight knit a chain rhyme form called the rubayat stanza and we'll examine this later but first I'm going to start with a line by line analysis of the poem and then explore its themes then I'll place the poem in its historical context the first stanza establishes the situation the speaker breaks his journey to watch the snowfall at night written in the first person voice the speaker shares his innermost thoughts and feelings creating a strong bond with us from the start the first two lines reveal the speaker's thoughts processes he confides in us that he thinks he knows the woods owner who lives in the village some distance from the woods this detail immediately establishes a feeling of solitariness and isolation and signals that this poem is highly likely to be a reflective piece it also introduces uncertainty he only thinks he knows uncertainty is a theme the poem explores in stanza 1 we learn that because the woods owner lives in the village he will not witness the speaker stopping by his Woods to watch the snow scene line four establishes that the poem takes place in Winter and later when we learn it is the darkest evening of the year this creates an ominous mood my little horse must think it queer to stop without a farmhouse near between the woods and frozen lake the darkest evening of the year having set the scene stanza 2 lines five to eight continues the theme of isolation and solitariness we learn there is no Farmhouse nearby away from civilization The Farmhouse and Village represent Frost places the speaker in the natural world he's only companion is his horse who must think it's strange that his owner has suddenly stopped in such an isolated spot and in such unfriendly weather we are told on line seven he stopped between the woods and a frozen lake Frozen stresses the coldness and makes us question why the speaker would stop in this harsh landscape in what could be described as a miserable situation in line eight we learn that the darkest evening of the Year this might describe the time but hint at the speaker's State of Mind perhaps he is at a low point in his life using pathetic fallacy the falling snow frozen lake and darkest evening May reflect the speaker's mental and emotional state he's in a dark place feeling miserable depressed even my little horse must think it queer to stop without a farmhouse near we are told the horse likely thinks he's own his decision queer meaning strange or curious to choose such a spot to stop especially given the miserable conditions and harsh environment Frost employs anthropomorphism ascribing human qualities to the animal perhaps the horse senses a danger in the spot while the speaker does not he gives his harness spells a shake to ask if there is some mistake the only other sounds The Sweep of easy wind and Downy flake in stanza 3 Lines 9-12 show the horse's concern the poet is unspecific whether he is mounted on the horse or has dismounted if he were dispounted the sense of danger is heightened and we understand fully why his horse might shake his harness bells Bell suggests danger like an alarm Bell perhaps even the tolling of a bell and highlight the danger the speaker is in yet he ignores or is oblivious to this such is his State of Mind perhaps the horse senses a dark mood or depression in the speaker and attempts to shake him out of his dark thoughts the horse's action references a theme in literature that animals are more attuned to our emotional states or danger than humans Frost juxtaposes the horse's sense of self-preservation and sensibleness with the speaker's apparent disregard for his safety creating tension and drama and making us want to read on in lines 11 and 12 Frost indicates why the speaker might stop on such a dreary evening he finds the bleakness attractive despite the cold and dark he is drawn to the quiet it offers the silence is interrupted only by the horses Bell and the only other sounds The Sweep of easy wind and Downy flake the use of sibilance in sound sweep and easy creates a calming quality assonance lengthens the lines forcing us to slow our reading or reciting and creating a mood of contentment and a lingering sensation Downey suggests the snow's soft surface which covers the ground like a blanket of either down but it also brings connotation of sleep perhaps the scene's beauty tempts the speaker to rest even to sleep despite the danger of freezing to death ironically Downey suggests warmth like a blanket despite the danger he is attracted to Nature's Allure perhaps Frost presents nature as an evil force that deliberately entices him to stay sleep and die he is in danger stanza 4 carries on the theme of nature as alluring enticing but dangerous fittingly on line 13 a number associated with Misfortune he presents the woods as an attractive entity through passive personification seducing him to enter the words 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 dark complements lovely dark Beauty as if the woods are a beautiful person seducing him deep suggests it is a place for adventure but also like dark where he could easily be lost should he step inside to explore dark and deep suggests the woods offer concealment a place to hide away from life's pressures something the speaker also finds attractive the theme of Nature's Beauty but its danger is supported through the antithesis lovely but dark and deep where one could easily get lost or fall line 14 is Volta like as in a sonnet although this is not a sonnet we have a turning point in the poem he wrenches himself from the woods Nature's pull but signals this change the speaker turns from the present and projects himself into the future I have promises to keep the moment is like breaking a spell and the wood seductive hold is broken perhaps he realizes the danger of stopping too long by the woods the cold might kill him and we are told that he has miles to go before he sleeps anaphora stresses this need to leave and to move on in line 14 promises creates a sense of Mystery are these promises to himself or promises to others these commitments occupy his mind and Nature's spell is seemingly broken I say seemingly for reasons that will explore shortly why would woods and a Snowy Evening hold them in thrall we can only guess Frost encourages to fill in the gaps and create a story perhaps the speaker felt life's pressures and needed a moment of calm and the natural world can provide these moments space to stop and assess where we are in our lives nature allows for the kind of quiet reflection people may struggle to find in their busy lives and their societies Hugger Mugger and pressures Nature's capacity to let us reconnect with ourselves is one reason we enjoy the Solitude and peace walking or hiking in the countryside in mountains affords in the poem once his spiritual stock taking is over he realizes he must complete his journey and fulfill his commitments miles to go might mean the journey he's on or figuratively life's journey before I sleep can be read to me before he finishes his long journey or the death that awaits everyone who travels life's path we meet the speaker mid-journey perhaps at a Crossroads in his life as I mentioned before he only thinks he knows the woods owner and uncertainty is employed to reflect the uncertainty we feel at some stage in our lives the lovely dark Deep Woods bring associations of death which he resists he has much to achieve much to accomplish before he dies and there's an acceptance at the end the speaker's tone is accepting that you must move on in life you have to go on however the poem's ending is ambiguous we'll examine this now the final stanza introduces a tension between responsibility and freedom although there's an ending to this poem there's no clear resolution we are left asking if the speaker is satisfied with the thought that he has these obligations to meet I must literally and figuratively move on does the speaker actually move on and leave the woods Frost leaves him deciding to move on but the repetition of the last two lines is only a projection as though he is willing himself to move we never learn if he does now let's consider how poetry and form supports the poems themes the entire work is written in I am Victor meaning for Iams or unstressed stressed beats which make up an eight syllable line whose words these are I think I know again it's a meter which reflects the human heartbeat reflecting the speaker is at an emotional point in their life and their emotional response to Nature's snow filled Beauty the woods and snow are symbolically important the scene here is attracted to is a dead landscape only he and the horse are alive and have the freedom to stay or move on the landscape and scenario Frost presents to us support the theme that we are actors in this world and able to make choices to break or fulfill the promises to ourselves and to others therefore this is a poem with a major theme of agency freedom to make decisions and to act upon them the choice to Stay or Leave are opposites in the poem The juxtapositioning of the present tense watching the woods fill with snow and projection into the future but I have Promises to Keep demonstrates these tensions the poem is melodic as enticing as the woods for example in line one Frost uses several techniques to create a melodic sounding line he uses soft w sounds in whose woods and the assonance in the internal ooh sound in these words plus the alliterative sound in these and think he also uses sibilance the S sounds in whose woods and these these techniques combine to give the line A melodic sound that flows off the tongue the sound reinforces the imagery the use of iambic tetrameter here creates a melodic lullaby implying that nature has lulled the speaker into sleep or a trance indeed sibilance in the last two stanzas supports the impression that nature is singing the speaker to sleep siren-like for example gifts his harness bells a shake is some mistake sounds The Sweep easy Woods miles sleep miles sleep along with maintaining the I am victorimeter is the poem's overall formal structure Frost uses a b a rhyme scheme in which the first second and fourth lines of each quatrain rhyme while the third line is unround this rhyme will however be carried into subsequent stanzas in the case of these lines though no and snow rhyme the meter and Ryan scheme creates a sing-song rhythm which flows making it easier for the reader to remember the poem's content and important themes the poem's ambiguous ending is highlighted in the final lines 15 and 16. with the repetition and end stop lines at first reading the N Stop lines suggest a resolution the speaker's Mind Is Made Up and he is determined to Journey on but it's uncertain whether the speaker leaves the woods to fulfill the promises he must keep or whether he stays in the woods wavering between obligation and personal desire to lose himself in the peace and quiet the woods afford the choice of winter May symbolize death when all things die yet Frost presents an alluring snow scene that suggests the speaker sees death as something not to be feared but welcomed it reflects the speaker's State of Mind another reading is the snow scene allows the speaker the space to contemplate his mortality and that death is the end of life's journey and he has many things to achieve before then this reading gives the poem an optimistic framing he resists this death urge by realizing he has miles to go before I sleep Frost therefore presents us with two destinations the short-term destination wherever the speaker is going and a longer Journey life's journey ultimately to death but populated with commitments promises to ourselves and others which we doggedly try to fulfill in this respect the poem acts as a Memento Mori a reminder that even amidlife death is ever present so we should focus on the now and fill our days again this introduces the popular poetic theme of carpe diem Seas or harvest the day while we can a sobering thought the use of epizusis a special form of repetition in the final two lines impresses the reader that the miles seem endless to the speaker therefore underlying the poem's simple story is a sophisticated structure Landing formality and gravitas to the themes it explores a significant feature is the poems for quatrains written as Rubaiyat stanzas a ruby ayat is a chain rhyme scheme in which one rhyme from a stanza carries over into the next creating an interlocking structure for example he gives his harness spells a shake to ask if there is some mistake the only other sounds The Sweep of easy wind and Downy flake the words are lovely dark and deep the rube ayat form was made famous in the English-speaking World by Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the 12th century Persian poet Omar kayam's work the poem also nods towards Dante's use of terzarima another form of interlocking chain rhyme this chain rhyme also creates a carefully constructed unity in the poem and a link which reflects these speakers Chain of Thought it also creates this seamless sing-song effect in the poem like a lullaby the lullaby is an at poetic form because it offers a gentle tune that's often hides something complicated or darker for example think about the lyrics to Rockabye Baby and what they suggest on closer reading the poet may be suggesting that freedom or rest from our toils is only to be found in death so the poem follows a chain rhyme in which one rhyme from each stanza is carried into the next and it's creating that interlocking structure in this case the first second and fourth line of every stanza rhyme while the third doesn't the third line however rhymes with the first second and fourth lines of the following stanza then in the final stanza the lines resolve into one continuing rhyme and result in the following scheme a b a b c BBC d c c d d d and the only deviation from this perfectly constructed rhyme scheme is the repetition in the final two lines which makes those two lines profound they stand out from the rest of the lines highlighting their importance the speaker is anonymous perhaps he or she represent everybody who has been in a dark place in their lives and wishes for temporary respite from life's troubles equally the woods are Anonymous reflecting the universal themes the poet is exploring the story could take place anywhere in a winter landscape having said that the speaker may also to an extent represent Frost and elements of this poem may be considered autobiographical typical of frostwork he uses simple stories set in rural Landscapes referencing nature to explore deeper themes and fuel his philosophical musings he wrote Stopping by Woods in 1923 which appeared in his Anthology titled New Hampshire The Collection included poems we have considered in earlier videos including Fire and Ice and Nothing Gold Can Stay New Hampshire marked a watershed in Frost's writing career because it won him the Pulitzer Prize regarding the historical context Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening was written several years after World War One which forced Frost to leave England and return to the United States the 1920s was a period when poets and other artists grappled with the uncertainty the Great War had caused regarding the individual's place in society and their relationship with religion it was a time when many lost their sense of purpose and meaning the poem speaker demonstrates perhaps on WE lethargy which he later discards on realizing that he must go on and fulfill his promise the poem therefore does contain autobiographical elements promises might relate to Frost's writing talent that He intends to fulfill and the promises he had given his close friend Edward Thomas while living in England Edward Thomas an older established writer had been Frost friend and mentor and had encouraged him to dedicate his life to full-time writing Thomas was killed in the first world war and frost grieved greatly perhaps one of these promises he has to keep is to honor Thomas by fulfilling his writing potential Frost and Thomas's relationship is explored in my video The Road Not Taken on a general level the poem reflects a very human need some time to assess and reassess our life's journey and our priorities whether this poem is the speaker's meditation on solitude or a foreboding and ominous symbol of Despair suggested in the snow scenes a powerful pull or both is left ambiguous it's left to us to decide the mark of a great poem written by a great poet thank you so much for watching this video I hope you found it interesting and useful if so please hit the like button below also check out our other videos on writing and textual analysis including analysis of Robert Frost poems if you haven't yet subscribed to our Channel it would be greatly appreciated if you would many many thanks until next time write well