Frost

2 Pages 623 Words

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost “Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost is one of the many deeply symbolic poems that he has written. Frost was a poet who sought to master his art. His poems he wrote were deceptively simple in appearance but saturated with meaning. In this particular poem Frost paints a simple picture that appears to be quite lucid, until one takes a closer look to reveal what is hidden within the words. As the poem begins, there is a man driving by a dark wooded area. He stops and admires the scereness of the snow falling in the woods. He recalls the the man who owns the land and knows of his house in the village. The land owner asleep in his bed can not see him stop by his land and the man reasons that he will not mind as he gazed at his woods. The mans horse is confused why they have stoped and shakes his bells. The man then recalls his obligation to the real world, the miles he will travel and the poem stops there. There is the first conflict of the poem between nature (the woods) and civilization (the village). The man stops to appreciate the peaceful scene of snow falling to the forest floor, but is reminded of his own obligations by the fact that he knows of the man who owns the land. This fact connects him back to civilization, and is a reminder of his own promises he has to keep (Warren 114). The next conflict occurs when the horse seems to ask if there is some mistake for their stopping, by shaking his bells. The horse, realizes there are no homes and no reasonable excuses for stopping. The horse symbolizes something practical, opposed to the man who wishes to stay and watch the snow fill up the woods. The horse does not see the view as the man sees it. To the man it is a surreal environment or escape, and he sees the beauty of the snow descending down into the darkness (Warren 115). This signifies the difference between man and beast, which is the ability to see t...