I was wondering if it would be appropriate for a few of you to look over an essay for me?

It is a simple essay on Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening", so it will take a basic knowledge to read. By the time any of you read it, it will be handed in, so really this is just for creative input and construcive criticism.

BUT, I won't be posting it here if it would be inappropriate (I know how often people come looking for free essays and such, and I don't want to fuel that, nor do I want my essay plagiarized).

If it's allowed, I'd like to hear some of your comments.

(Oh, and hopefully it won't be cesspooled by being "unintelligent" :rolleyes: )

Alright whatever, I'll just post it.

It was a quick run through when I wrote it, so it's not terribly in depth, but I was hoping to find out if any of you think I got the main point of the poem.

First, here's the poem itself:


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.

And here's my explication:


In Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (553), Frost uses a simple scene of a man stopping in the woods to tell a story of the longing for death and rest. He uses vivid imagery and ironic phrasing (the words “lovely, dark and deep”) to demonstrate the speaker’s feelings of depression and fatigue.

The poem itself is in iambic tetrameter, with an AABA rhyme-scheme. The poem never leaves the iambic tetrameter, nor does it have any slant rhymes. Lastly, there are sixteen lines, with four stanzas each having four lines.

The first stanza stands to set the scene, introducing us to the setting. “Whose woods these are I think I know.” (line 1) tells us that these are not the speaker’s woods or his regular dwelling; while line 2 “His house is in the village though;” proves to us that he is away from civilization, and is alone. “He will not see me stopping here | To watch his woods fill up with snow” (lines 3-4) tells us that the speaker is stopping in these foreign woods, although the reason is not revealed until later in the poem.

In the second stanza, we learn about the speaker’s background. “My little horse must think it queer | To stop without a farmhouse near” (lines 5-6) tells us that stopping here (or more specifically: away from farmhouses) is not a normal occurrence for the speaker, and that he must be heading either to or from work, because that is the norm for his horse at a time like this. The place and time he stops is also quite peculiar “Between the woods and frozen lake | The darkest evening of the year.” (lines 7-8); he stops between the woods—a dark and dreary place—and a frozen lake—generally considered a stark and dangerous place to be, albeit beautiful. The time of year that he actually stops is “The darkest evening of the year”, which is both a literal and emotional statement. The darkest evening of the year is the Winter Solstice, making the setting an even darker and more depressing place to be, while the emotional side of the statement could mean that the speaker has hit the lowest of lows in his life. He has hit rock-bottom, and is stopping in the middle of his journey to contemplate his life.

The third stanza is the only part of the poem describing sound: “He gives his harness bells a shake | To ask if there is some mistake.” (lines 9-10); the speaker’s thoughts about his horse’s feelings ring true in these lines. “The only other sound’s the sweep | Of easy wind and downy flake.” (lines 11-12): these dreamlike sounds bolster the restfulness of the speaker’s surroundings, and heighten the imagery being painted.

The fourth and final stanza is our “conclusion”, although we don’t have a very promising future in sight. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (line 13) reinforces the fact that the speaker is particularly fond of dark things and feelings at the moment. With this statement, we are shown how the speaker may be contemplating staying here and just resting, and being at peace with himself, but line 14: “But I have promises to keep” shows that he knows cannot give up now, he has a long way to go before he can rest. The repetition in the final two lines of the poem, “And miles to go before I sleep, | And miles to go before I sleep.” (lines 15-16) does nothing to tell us that anything will get better for the speaker. If this is the “darkest evening of the year” for him, then that means it has to get brighter in the days to come, but the sullen repetition shows that the speaker is falling into a deeper and darker place, and wishes his eternal slumber to come quickly.

Any comments and criticisms are welcome.

It's interesting. But a word of advice: don't start your paragraphs with "In the second stanza," or "The third stanza," and "The fourth and final stanza,".

Granted, each stanza does deserve its own paragrah, but starting a different paragraph with the same, or similar, line really shows a lack of style. It makes it look a bit drab.

Other than that, I know nothing about poetry and it seems interesting to me.

I'd say that's probably my only complaint over this essay, as well. I'm never one to conventionally open a paragraph or be blunt with the force of my words. I'd call that essay a stab above most of the vulgar pissants I've trodded across, and hope you've earned a grade above a B minus for the effort.

I'm a real dunce with poetry and your essay helped me understand a rather famous poem. Thanks. All I'd add is that the darkest night of the year might arguably be the new moon closest to the winter solstice rather than the solstice itself. But that's trivial and pedantic and doesn't affect anything. The winter solstice falls just a few days before Christmas. I don't know how it was celebrated in Frost's day, but in our era that night would be rather gay and hectic and the landscape would be saturated with shoppers and partygoers. Shows how changing times can affect the interpretation of art.

Yeah I know my paragraph introductions are weak, it's just tough for me to think of new ways to open them up.

Thanks for the comments, and I guess we'll see my grade next Wednesday.

I can't wait. It should be a giid grade!

When what you need to talk about seems to be a list, you can improve your paragraph intros by just juggling the words around a bit. For instance,

"We learn about the speaker's background in Stanza Two with the words"...etc.

Then you can leave the paragraph about the third stanza alone, and then for the fourth, start with the quote:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (line 13), in the fourth and final stanza, leads us to our conclusion......yada yada yada.

I have no quarrel with your content, it seems a decent enough explanation. I personally have never liked this poem much. It always seemed somewhat sappy to me, but it was written in a different era. I've tried to equate it with the same situation in modern times, a person in a car stopping to look at the lovely scene, but this modern person would not hear the 'sweep of easy wind and downy flake,' over his car radio/CD player, nor would his car be indicating an anomaly here. And the phrase 'miles to go before I sleep' has much more to it if you are driving a horse drawn open carriage in a snow storm than if you are popping home in your heated car with snow tires.

This poem is heavily dependent on the horse imagery; and I think it depends on what kind of mood you are in as to whether all those references to dark, quiet, etc. refer to death or just to a guy stopping for a break before getting on with his life.

Nice essay on your part.

Marti in Mexico

Jinoda,


First, some other stylistic suggestions:


"... (line 1) tells us that ..."
"... (lines 3-4) tells us that ..."

Make yourself a list of words and phrases to express this -- you already use different ones ("reveals", "we learn", ...), but it doesn't seem to be the result of a systematic effort.
Everything says or tells us something -- but some things reveal, some other lead us to think, some make us discover, some close themselves to us ... and so on. Think about these words and concepts, make yourself a list. It should come handy many times.

* * *

Secondly, just for comparison, also read "Des Wandrer's Nachtlied" by J.W. Goethe (You speak German, right?), and "Cancíon de Jinete" by Federico García Lorca.

(I'll try to find English versions in the meantime.)


* * *

Thirdly, there are some things that I find odd in your interpretation. It's an interpretation, of course, so we can't argue whether one is right and the other one wrong. But I would like to see your arguments for yours.



In Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (553), Frost uses a simple scene of a man stopping in the woods to tell a story of the longing for death and rest. He uses vivid imagery and ironic phrasing (the words “lovely, dark and deep” ) to demonstrate the speaker’s feelings of depression and fatigue.

Why do you think he longs for death?

(I suppose once you decided he longs for death, to you the verses And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep. begin to stand for depression and fatigue.)



The darkest evening of the year is the Winter Solstice, making the setting an even darker and more depressing place to be, while the emotional side of the statement could mean that the speaker has hit the lowest of lows in his life. He has hit rock-bottom, and is stopping in the middle of his journey to contemplate his life.

What is your reason to think the speaker has hit the lowest of lows in his life?



The fourth and final stanza is our “conclusion”, although we don’t have a very promising future in sight. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” (line 13) reinforces the fact that the speaker is particularly fond of dark things and feelings at the moment. With this statement, we are shown how the speaker may be contemplating staying here and just resting, and being at peace with himself, but line 14: “But I have promises to keep” shows that he knows cannot give up now, he has a long way to go before he can rest. The repetition in the final two lines of the poem, “And miles to go before I sleep, | And miles to go before I sleep.” (lines 15-16) does nothing to tell us that anything will get better for the speaker. If this is the “darkest evening of the year” for him, then that means it has to get brighter in the days to come, but the sullen repetition shows that the speaker is falling into a deeper and darker place, and wishes his eternal slumber to come quickly.

Again, unless you decide that the poem is about longing for death; I don't see where the poem says that things won't get better for the speaker.


Just for comparison, take Frost's famous poem:


The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–?
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


Does this sound sad to you?


I think it is odd that so many interpretations of poems go thus:

1. The speaker thinks about life and death.
2. He finds death inevitable and dreadful.
3. Death is coming.
4. But for the sake of being optimistic, let's say that there is a ray of light in there somewhere.


Personally, I don't find "Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening" to be about longing for death. I see no depression in it.
It has a certain solemnity and earnestness of mind though, similar to that in "The Road Not Taken", that may be foreign to our thinking.

My two cents: Frost is talking about contemplating suicide and decides to continue to live.