Analysis
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Like most of Frosts poems, Stopping By Woods can be read on several
levels[1]. And, again like most of his poems, you can ignore them all, and
still enjoy the surface meaning, which is beautifully evocative. Just below
the surface there is the sleep/death metaphor, and the undercurrent of
gentle longing for death tinges the surface with a melancholy that
reinforces and plays off the night and winter images.
Formwise, note the predominance of soft, sibilant sounds, evoking the sweep
of easy wind and downy flake. Note also the lovely rhyme scheme[2], aaba
bbcb, and the repetition of the final line, which provides closure at
several different levels.
[1] some of them incredibly contrived and/or ingenious – load up
and
search for Matthew Brown, e.g.
[2] yes, yes, he rhymed sleep with sleep. get over it 🙂
For more than you ever wanted to know about Frosts life and works, see the
previous poem, poem #51
From: TROY MARTIN
this is my favorite poem. I always imagine the beautiful woods with the snow falling from the sky. I admire the man for thinking of his obligations when the lovely woods is so tempting. I can always see the horse in my mind giving his harness bells a shake.
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