Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Questions & Answers

Answer:

The last two lines of the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening suggests the theme of the poem.

“And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”

The important thing here is that the poet repeats the last line to make an emphasis and attract the attention of the readers. In this very last line lies the allegorical interpretation. Here ‘sleep’ may refer to death. and ‘promises’ may refer to our duties.

The poem apparently presents the picture of a snow-covered woods and tells the tale of a man who wanted to enjoy the beauty of the woods but could not do so for long. He had to go to keep his promises.

We, in our real life, have many things to look at with awe, many things to enjoy. But in most cases we cannot, simply because we have other things to do in our short lifespan. So we have to move on. This is the message or theme inherent in the poem.

Again, the woods are symbolic of the beautiful aspects of life, as well as life’s temptations and distractions. We have got to go on our way to achieve our goals. So, we should not get distracted by the fascinating things around us.

Answer: Last two lines are the most important in this poem. The poet here says two different things in both lines. In the penultimate (second last) line he says that he is a long way from home and it will take him a lot of time to reach his resting place. The last line signifies that the narrator has lots of time before he gets his final rest, death which he wants or desires but before getting that rest he has promises to keep or duties to fulfill .

Answer:

Here ‘he’ refers to the horse on which the narrator was travelling.

According to the narrator, the horse was giving a shake to his harness bells to ask him whether there was a mistake. It suggests that the narrator had never stopped there before. It was new to the horse’s experience to stop on the way in that woods.

The lines:

“He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.”

employs a fine piece of personification of the horse. It is addressed like a human being as ‘He’ and the verb ‘to ask’ is used to give it even more prominence.

Answer: The speaker is travelling on his horse through the lonely woods. This time he stops there to enjoy the beauty of the snow-covered woods. He was assured that the owner of the woods won’t see him, as his house is in the village far from there.

His little horse finds it strange to stop there between the woods and a frozen lake, without a farmhouse near. So he (the horse) gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there has been a mistake. The only other sounds in that tranquil evening were the sounds of the easy wind and the falling snow.

The woods were dark and deep, and our speaker found it ‘lovely’. He wanted to stay there longer, but could not do so. He had promises to keep and a long way to go before sleep. So he goes away.

Answer: According to the poet, the horse shakes his harness bells to ask if there is some mistakes in stopping by the woods in that snowy evening. It indicates that it was a regular journey for them but they never stopped there before that day.

Answer:

‘Woods’ in this poem symbolizes two things:

Firstly, it symbolizes our distractions in various ways and temptations of life. We often get distracted by these things in the journey of our life and thus end up failing to reach our destination, our goals.

secondly, woods symbolizes the beautiful aspects of this life. We need to enjoy those, but have no time to spend with it as we have ‘miles to go before we sleep’.

Answer: The narrator could hear the sound of the harness bells of his horse, sounds of the easy wind and the downy flake.

It suggests that the surroundings were very calm. Silence prevailed all around. So the narrator could hear even the sounds of the snowfall and the mild breeze. This adds to the overcast and mysterious atmosphere of the place.

Answer: The expression ‘darkest evening’ could suggest several things. It was most probably a reference to the longest night of the year – the night with the most hours of darkness. In that case, it is 21st or 22nd December, when the winter solstice occurs in the northern hemisphere. Otherwise, it could also mean that the narrator-traveller was depressed due to his long journey or the cold weather or some other reason, and that is why he wanted to spend some time alone watching the woods. Again, the overall atmosphere might be comparatively gloomy.

Answer: Robert Frost, America’s most popular poet in his time, used to write about “real situations, the countryside and landscape, people who had found contentment despite privation; he was particularly concerned with isolation and the failure to communicate” (Edward Albert).

In the present poem we can see the reflection of Albert’s statement everywhere. In ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ Frost has painted a landscape of snow-covered woods in a lonely countryside. The sense of isolation and silence is accentuated by the ‘dark and deep’ forest in the ‘darkest evening of the year’.

However, depicting the beauty of nature alone has not been Frost’s aim. Rather, he wanted to deliver a learning through his poems. Here lies his distinctness. His own definition of the aim of poetry — “It begins in delight and ends in wisdom” — holds truth in the present poem. “Stopping by Woods” begins with a picturisation of a landscape which the poet finds beautiful and enjoyable and ends with a great message of duty in human life.

One more thing to mention here, Robert Frost is exceptional in his poem here to find beauty in the dark snow-covered woods. While many other poets would paint this landscape as a gloomy and desolate one, Frost has managed to find beauty in cold, in silence and in isolation. That is why he is a nature poet different from others.

Answer: Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” has been well-known for various interpretations on metaphorical levels. I think the poem very well explores the theme of an individual caught between nature and civilization.

The speaker in the poem wishes to spend more time enjoying the beauty of nature in the form of the snow-covered woods far from the noises and disturbances of civilization. It was nature at its primitive glorious state. The woods were “lovely, dark and deep” and silence prevailed over the entire landscape. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of the harness bells, easy winds and the downy flake. It was in complete contrast with the buzz and bustles of city life. That is why it was so enjoyable to a person who even felt relieved at the thought that the owner of the woods won’t see him watching his woods, as his house was in the village.

Again, the speaker couldn’t continue watching the woods for long, as he had other responsibilities in life. This is an indication that in this era of modern civilization, we cannot sit in the midst of nature, but have to keep up with our duties in respect to our relations with other individuals and with society at large.

So, to conclude, it’s a more than plausible interpretation of Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods” that the poem explores the theme of individual caught between nature and civilization.

Answer: In Frost’s poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening the poet stops by a snow-covered woods on his way to enjoy its beauty. But before long he realizes that he cannot afford to stand there for long as he has responsibilities and duties to perform. He expresses his regret that he has miles to go before he sleeps, i.e., a lot of things to do before he dies.

The woods here symbolizes the beautiful aspects of our lives that we may wish to see and enjoy for long. It also symbolizes the distractions in life. But, we have our duties. So we should not be tempted to waste a lot of our valuable time in the quest of beauty and enjoyment. We should ‘keep our promises’ first. Thus Frost creates a sense of duty in this poem.

Answer: In Frost’s poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ the speaker was travelling through the woods and stopped there to watch the beautiful woods covered with snow. It was lovely, dark and deep. So, he wanted to enjoy it. But, he was unable to stay there for long, as he had responsibilities of life and had to go a long way before he sleeps.

This journey and halt of the speaker seem to be serving as a metaphor for the journey of our life. We also come across many beautiful, tempting things in our day-to-day life. But we cannot enjoy those moments for long, for we have to move on to our duties. We have a lot of things to do in our short lifespan. We cannot afford to be distracted by those temptations of life. So, the speaker’s journey is a metaphorical one to indicate the journey of our life.

Answer: Woods are generally smaller than a forest. So it probably was not a big forest but the woods covering a small area. The word ‘deep’ here refers to mystery and sensuous aspect of nature. It is not to be taken literally.

Answer: The speaker in Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” voices his regret that he won’t be able to wait there in the woods for long. He would love to see and enjoy the beauty of the snow-covered woods for some more time, but unfortunately, he has a long way to go before he sleeps.

On a metaphorical level, the poet indicates though we wish to enjoy the beautiful aspects of life for long, we generally cannot do so due to our obligations or duties of life which we must address before we go for our final sleep, i.e., death.