Paper : 108 Assignment
'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by - Robert Frost
Name - Hina Parmar
Batch - M.A. Sem 2 (2022-2024)
Enrollment no - 40692064202221
Roll no - 10
Subject code - 22401
Paper no - 108
Paper - The American Literature
Email address - hinaparmar612@gmail.com
Submitted to - Smt.S.B. Gardi Department of English M.K.B.U.
Date of submission - 31 march, 2023
This blog is written as an assignment on paper no - 108 The American Literature. This assignment is assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir H.O.D of English Department M.K.B.U. In this particular blog I am going to discuss Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".
Robert Frost
Robert Frost whose full name is Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874, San Francisco, California, U.S. and died on January 29, 1963, Boston, Massachusetts. He was one of the most famous American poets who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, and his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations.
Frost did his college education at Harvard University. His reputation was enhanced by New Hampshire (1923), which received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
Robert Frost is also regarded as an American nature poet. He spent his whole life amidst the fields and nature. He is popularly known for dramatic monologues and for expressing the philosophies of life through poetry. His style is unique with rare content.
The poet and critic Randall Jarrell praised Frost's poetry and he wrote that-
"Robert Frost, along with Stevens and Eliot, seems to me the greatest of the American poets of this century. Frost's virtues are extraordinary. No other living poet has written so well about the
actions of ordinary men; his wonderful dramatic monologues or dramatic scenes come out of a knowledge of people that few poets have had, and they are written in a verse that uses, sometimes with absolute mastery, the rhythms of actual speech."
He also praised -
"Frost's seriousness and honesty,"
To added more In Contemporary Literary Criticism, the editors state that-
"Frost's best work explores fundamental questions of existence, depicting with chilling starkness the loneliness of the individual in an indifferent universe."
'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'
The poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ is all about how beautiful nature is, and it is filled with snow in the beautiful hours of dusk. But the poet has to travel to his place before it's dark as he has many promises to keep. There is the metaphysical element in the poem that explains how beautiful life is but one also has responsibilities to perform before they die.
Poetry Analysis
The Elements of Diction in "Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening"
Here Frost emphasizes the lyrics and inner feelings, so he takes into account the use of diction. For example, to develop wood which is the main word in poetry, Frost strengthens with the words snowy evening, darkest evening, frozen lake, without a farmhouse, and queer. In other words, the forest seems to be very quiet and isolated. The air temperature was really cold when it was approaching that evening.
In the last verse of the poem "Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening", Frost said that two dictionaries have many interpretations. These words are miles and promises. The word miles in this poem can be interpreted as the journey of life for many years the I Character must pass before Death comes. Meanwhile the word promises can be interpreted as a duty and obligation.
The Elements of Imagery in "Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening"
By the title "Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening", the reader has got a clear imagery of the forest where the Character stops, which is dark and at the same time very cold. This impression is further strengthened by the words the frozen lake and the darkest evening. The state of the forest is also still explained again with lovely words, dark and deep.
The Elements of Language Style in "Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening"
The Language Style Elements that most appear in the poem "Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening" is a symbol. Although words that are used are simple but contain deep meanings. Words that have symbols in this poem are woods, snow, harness bells, promises, miles and sleep.
Basically the word promises is the key to understanding this poem "Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening" after the I Character was awarded from the world of his dreams. As a human being, the I Character realized his existence as a creature of God who lives in the midst of society. The word promises can be interpreted as a symbol of human duties and obligations during life in the world.
Themes in the poem 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'
Journey in The Poem
In this poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ the poet narrates his journey, how he halts for a moment mesmerized by the beauty of woods in that snowy evening. He knows the owner of the woods but nothing stops him to stand and stare at the beauty which was momentary. He watches the woods fill up with snow. Though he stops there for some time, the poet knows very well that this cannot be eternal. He has to go miles before he sleeps because he has promises to keep. His companion in the journey is a horse. The line -
‘And miles to go before I sleep’
This line is continuously repeated in this poem and shows how long the journey is. Here the journey is from life to death.
Nature in The Poem
In this poem there were words like woods, snowy, evening, farmhouse, frozen lake, snowflakes etc. Those words showcase the poet’s admiration for nature. The poet enjoys the view of woods filling with snow in the darkest evening. The lakes are frozen because of the snowfall. The only sounds of nature he can hear are the sweep of wind and the falling of snowflakes. He enjoys them amidst the silence of the darkest evening. The line ‘The Woods are lovely, dark and deep’ represents layers of meaning. At one instance, he is obssesed with the beauty of nature. Secondly, the poet realizes that this is momentary and he has to move on as he has responsibilities to perform. Thirdly, the sentence metaphysically denotes the journey and beauty of life or life itself.
Life and Death
In ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ the poet reveals the process of life and how life is full of duties amidst the temporary moments. The poet clearly showcases the realities of life and the beauty, which is short living. In the last stanza, the poet describe about the philosophy of life in four lines. The lines are as follows.
“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”.
These lines are evergreen and eternal in the world of English literature as they are open ended with layers of hidden meanings. These four lines talked about the complete meaning of life and death. The first two lines are all about the life and nuisance attached to it whereas the next two lines depict the death.
Rhyming Scheme in The Poem
In this poem the poet uses alliteration and cacophonic sounds. The poem shows a unique rhyming scheme aabbccdd with 16 lines each word having 2 syllables.
Tone modulation in the poem
Tone modulation is also there in the poem as the writer starts the poem with a question as -Whose woods these are I think I know With rise and fall of tone it looks that the poet is in a state of confusion so the poem follows some kind of stress pattern and loudness. In this way tone modulation has been used to capture the attention of the reader to focus on the imagery.
Connotation in the Poem
Metaphor
Frost depicts his point of view with the use of figurative language as he says "between the woods and frozen lake". Here, the poet explains the idea of birth to death to highlight the importance of his presence in those woods.
Personification
In the 1st line of 2nd stanza the poet says -
" My little horse must think it queer"
As thinking is a human quality and frost personified it to horses. This is to depict the idea of strangeness and weirdness.
Symbolism
Frost has used many symbols to explore the intended theme of the poem as follows.
Snow and frozen lake
death and dismay Dark
complexity and despair Sleep: death
Conclusion
To conclude, in the poem “Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening”, Frost tries to remind humans not to be easy in the world of imaginary dreams due to unsatisfactory real-world conditions. He tried to say that Human life in this world is full of challenges in carrying out the mission of life from the Creator. Humans are required to be able to overcome various obstacles and obstacles that exist.
Work Cited
Gerber, Philip L.. "Robert Frost". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Frost. Accessed 28 March 2023.
Hashmi, Muhammad Ahmad, et al. “Stylistic Analysis of Robert Frost’s Poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.’” International Journal of English Linguistics, vol. 9, no. 3, 2019, p. 373., doi:10.5539/ijel.v9n3p373.
Jumino, Jumino. “Human Existence as Individual Creature Based on Robert Frost’s Poems, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ and ‘The Road Not Taken’, through Stylistic View.” Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, 28 Feb. 2019, pp. 22–28., doi:10.14710/culturalistics.v3i1.4076.
Kallimani, Dr. Madhushri. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost and 'Because I Could Not Stop for Death' by Emily Dickinson: A Comparative Study.” SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH, vol. 8, no. 4, 28 Apr. 2020, p. 127., doi:10.24113/ijellh.v8i4.10529.
Words - 1,713
Pictures - 2
No comments:
Post a Comment