"Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening" By Robert Frost
This poem is told by a man stopping by a villager's woods to watch the snow falling in them. He believes that his horse must think he is weird for stopping in such a desolate area without a clear destination nearby on the "darkest evening of the year". The horse jingle's it's harness bells, questioning why they had stopped, but there is no other sound besides the windy snow fall. The poem then ends with a stanza about how lovely the woods are, but the speaker has "promises to keep,/ And miles to go before I sleep." This implies that despite the draw of the woods loveliness, he leaves and continues on his way.
There is a sense of conflict in this poem between the woods and the speaker's responsibilities outside of them. The woods simply represents nature. The speaker's responsibilities, his "promises to keep" and "miles to go", can be interpreted as civilization and the society that comes along with it. The torn feeling the speaker is experiencing between the woods and his responsibilities can be very directly related to what is happening in society today. Many people don't have time to spend in nature anymore because the duties of society are dragging them in and cutting them off from natural contact. The line, "My little horse must think it queer/ To stop without a farmhouse near", suggests at how nature is becoming an uncommon thing to spend time experiencing. It is now rare to spend time in such a pure, untouched thing with no technology in sight. Yet at the same time, the speaker still feels an attraction to the "lovely, dark, and deep" forest, showing humans instinctive urge to appreciate the wild's beauty. Civilization may be new and flashy but there is something raw and wonderful about nature's simple touch.
This poem draws attention to the importance of basking in the beauty nature has to offer us, which is exemplified in the following poem, "The Rhodora" by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
There is a sense of conflict in this poem between the woods and the speaker's responsibilities outside of them. The woods simply represents nature. The speaker's responsibilities, his "promises to keep" and "miles to go", can be interpreted as civilization and the society that comes along with it. The torn feeling the speaker is experiencing between the woods and his responsibilities can be very directly related to what is happening in society today. Many people don't have time to spend in nature anymore because the duties of society are dragging them in and cutting them off from natural contact. The line, "My little horse must think it queer/ To stop without a farmhouse near", suggests at how nature is becoming an uncommon thing to spend time experiencing. It is now rare to spend time in such a pure, untouched thing with no technology in sight. Yet at the same time, the speaker still feels an attraction to the "lovely, dark, and deep" forest, showing humans instinctive urge to appreciate the wild's beauty. Civilization may be new and flashy but there is something raw and wonderful about nature's simple touch.
This poem draws attention to the importance of basking in the beauty nature has to offer us, which is exemplified in the following poem, "The Rhodora" by Ralph Waldo Emerson.