Whose woods these are i think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods 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 sound's 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.
Key points about Writer :
• He was An American Poet.
• Known for his realistic depiction of rural life.
• His grandfather purchased a farm for him and for his wife in New Hampshire. He worked there for nine years.
About the Poem :
This poem is written by Robert Frost in 1922 and published in 1923, In the volume calls ' New Hampshire .' The speaker is going somewhere. But he finds the woods and thinks of halts. Besides that suddenly he recalls the work which he has to complete before the sleep.
Technique of the Poem :
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. And the rhyme scheme is AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD.
Interpretation of the Poem :
Let's go with the line by line.
From the title of the poem we can interpret that the speaker is stopped by Woods. And the time setting is of snowy evening. So we can say that speaker is going somewhere. Where he wants to go that is not mentioned. It is up to the listener's imagination. In between he reaches near the woods. Here Woods gives us different meanings. Because literal meaning of the Woods represents the lovely scene and silence. Where as symbolic meaning of the Woods represents a journey of life and a movement towards death. And After reading about the Frost... Frost : " Words themselves do not convey meaning ." So it is up-to the listener's psychology.
In the first line we find that the narrator is reached near the woods. And he says ' I think I know '. (Which represents the uncertainty ) Here we can say that speaker himself is not fully sure about the woods.
In the second line some how he recalls and says that the master of the Woods is in the village.
In the third line he says that he (master) will not see the speaker because master is not present right now.
And that's why speaker can easily enjoy the snow.
What comes in our mind is that after reading about the Frost we finds that he himself was a farmer for nine years. So we can interpret these above four lines in this way also....From his farm he leaves for the house and in between he reaches near the woods and these woods are so beautiful so may be he wants to stay there for a while. But he is awared about the unlawful trespass. And also the evening is of the December month so it becomes more and more darker. And another thing we found about the life of Frost is that one day in the night when he was at his farmhouse some of the youth group reaches there for the party and after the party because of intaking the rum they all misbehaves and breaks the house of Frost and also the law of trespassing.
The another imagery comes in our mind is that because of the over obligation he thinks about suicide but the harness bells gives the courage and speaker thinks about his family and makes his mind not to loose hope.
In the fifth line we find a interior monologue. Because horse can not speak. But by giving voice to horse he himself realize that it is so much queer to stay here.
Because there is no shelter at all. It becomes so much difficult to survive in the snowy evening to stay in the woods.
Here harness bells is considered as a alerting sound. As a recall of mistake.
While moving further in the thirteenth line we finds the contradiction lovely with dark. Which gives the different imagery of the word Woods.
In the last three lines speaker says as he has already promised someone to keep moving forward. So we can say that may be his wife or children are waiting for him. Or another thing comes in our mind is that may be he can not enjoy this beautiful snowy evening because he has to complete so many works or to reach his selected destination he can not enjoy the taking rest.
Here the repetition of the word sleep gives us different meanings. It is about to do as much as hard work before he die. He might be aware about the pain of carrying the burden of expectation of the family and he thinks for the assiduous practice.
By concluding the poem we finds that this poem is looks like a process rather than product. Altogether it is a very well poem which enhances the reader's aptitude towards new thinking.
Thank you
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