In all of Robert Frost’s poetry there is a use of metaphor. “ ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’…is about self-consciousness…about a man turned from nature by the demands of a man-made world” (Wakefield). The major problem of the poem is why the speaker pauses by the woods. The answer is the lure of the dark, impenetrable, snow-filled woods is at once the lure of beauty and the lure of death (Sweeny and Lindroth 52). All of these problems are taking place within the main characters head.
The scene of “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” is a cold, snowy evening in early winter. The man in the story is looking around his neighbor’s woods with his horse (Sweeny and Lindroth 50). As soon as the poem begins “there are conflicts set up in the first and second stanzas. “The first conflict is between the poet and the owner of the woods […] the second conflict is between the poet and his horse” (Sweeny and Lindroth 51). These conflicts are all divided into three different sections of the poem (De Fusco 93).
In the first section, a man is in the woods. He makes it clear that the woods are not his and that they are his neighbor’s. When the poet writes “He will not see me stopping here” the speaker feels like he shouldn’t be there and he hides from the neighbor. The character is correct in hiding because he shouldn’t be on someone else’s property. His self-conscious is telling him to get away but for now he doesn’t listen. The internal conflict inside the man sets the tone for the remainder of the poem.
“ In the second part a foil is introduced. In fiction and drama, a foil is a character that ‘plays against’ a more important character…the foil here is the horse” (De Fusco 95). Frost writes “My little horse must think it queer” but in reality, horses cannot think. The man imagines that his horse is thinking, “Why did he stop?” (De Fusco 95). Frost uses the horse to act as a symbol of the man’s conscious. The man also says that when his horse rings its bells he thinks that the horse is asking, “What are you waiting for?” Again the horse isn’t really asking this. The man is afraid to take responsibility for his thinking so he portrays his concerns through the horse.
In the third and final part of the poem, the dark lure of the woods, which represents death, tries to persuade the man into staying in his neighbor’s woods. The man reminds himself of his commitments he has in life (De Fusco 96). He realizes that he has “promises to keep” and “miles to go before he sleeps”. These promises and miles to go refer to life and all that he has to live for and sleeping refers to death (Sweeny and Lindroth 51). He is so worried about what other people think of him and his actions that he almost resorts to killing himself. However, he finally realizes his life goals are more important than what people say about him and the nature described in the poem pulls him out of the darkness and into life. His self-conscious feelings of wanting to live override the feelings about death. It becomes clear that the nature in the poem is about more than tall trees, pretty flowers, and sparkling snowflakes (Gerber 161).
“One of Frost’s most common subjects is choice—the character faced with two roads, two ideas, two possibilities of action” (Sweeny and Lindroth 35). “The Road Not Taken” is another one of Frost’s great poetic displays of nature. However, like most of his poems it is about more than nature; it is about making choices. “One cannot know when he makes a choice, what the result of his decision will be” (Sweeny and Lindroth 36). In “The Road Not Taken” the character is faced with a choice of two roads. Throughout the poem the man carefully analyzes the roads and his choices and at the end he finally chooses one.
Some people think that “The Road Not Taken” was written because at some point in Frost’s life he might have been cheated or misunderstood. He might have felt that he took “the wrong path” (Sweeny and Lindroth 36). In “The Road Not Taken” Frost is telling of that time, through the traveler when he needed to make a choice. Each road represents a different set of choices. The traveler has to decide which road to take. At the end of the poem, according to John Sweeny and James Lindroth, the traveler lets us know that he has made his decision, “I took the road less traveled by.” Although it seems that the traveler isn’t happy with his choice “rather than being sorry that he took the less traveled road, he seems to be saying that he would probably do the same thing again” (Sweeny and Lindroth 36). The traveler prefers the road that he has to create rather than the road already defined. As everyone knows, it is more difficult to create one’s own road and at times may even make a person unhappy, but in the end it is usually more rewarding and the same option would be chosen again in a future situation.
According to Mark Richardson this is a very ironic poem. “Which road, after all, is the road ‘not taken’? Is it the one the speaker takes…or is it the more traveled road which the speaker himself fails to take?” (Richardson). One of the most ironic parts is that the speaker just says the road he took was less traveled. Just because he says it’s less traveled doesn’t mean it is. Throughout the whole poem the speaker does his share of double-talking. In the second and third stanzas it is made clear that the roads are the same when he says that the roads are “worn really about the same” and “morning equally lay” on the roads. Both of those phrases noticeably show that the roads are very similar. “There is nothing to decide between them. There is no meaningful ‘choice’ to make…” (Richardson) and that is because the two roads are the same. Perhaps the achievement is making a choice in the first place.
Just like “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening”, in “The Road Not Taken”
there are symbols that are used to represent the main character’s conscious. In “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” the horse and the fact that he is in his neighbor’s woods serve as symbols depicting a choice between life and death. In “The Road Not Taken” the idea of just making a choice on which road to take shows the traveler’s troubles with his conscious. Making choices is a difficult process. One needs to be clear on the messages from one’s conscious so that a person can make the right and comfortable choice for oneself.
Although both poems tell a story in which the main character struggles with inner conflicts, the two stories have different endings. Although, Richardson feels that in “The Road Not Taken” the two roads are the same, they are actually completely different. The traveler takes the road that others don’t take. He overcomes his self-consciousness and makes his own decision. He chooses to be a leader not a follower. In “ Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” the man returns home and listens to his conscious. He succumbs to his horse’s “thoughts” which are really his own and chooses to come out of the woods or darkness, see the light and chooses to live life to it’s fullest.
Robert Frost is a very interesting poet. His use of symbolism is extraordinary, and his life’s messages are meaningful. It is important to be able to listen to one’s own conscious while making decisions throughout life’s process. At the age of eighty-nine on January 29, 1963 Robert Frost died. Frost will always be a great American poet. “His many poems have been different from one another and yet alike” (Van Doren). Now and forever Frost will remember him as a major American poet (Sweeny and Lindroth 15).
Works Cited
De Fusco, Andrea, et al. Readings on Robert Frost.
The Greenhaven Press, San Diego, CA. 1999
Gerber, Philip L. Critical Essays on Robert Frost.
G.K. Hall and Co. Boston, Massachusetts. 1982
Michalowski, Jay. “Biography of Robert Frost”.
The Robert Frost Web Page. 3 May 2003
Richardson, Mark “Robert Frost” Modern American Poetry. 5 April 2003.
Sweeny, John David and Lindroth, James.
The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: Monarch Press, 1965
Van Doren, Mark. “Robert Frost’s America: June 1951”
The Atlantic Online. 5 April 2003. The Atlantic Monthly
Wakefield, Richard. “Thomas Eakins and Robert Frost:
“To be a natural man in a man-made world.” Proquest Online. 5 April 2003.
