Frost
This week we’re talking about Robert Frost’s poems. Please be conscious of the role of tone in these poems, and the complexity (especially of the second). Frost loves symbolism.
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
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.
The Road Not TAken
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 mornign equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leas 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.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” on the surface can be taken very simplistically. A traveler stops along the road to take in the beautiful scene around them. They enjoy the silence and are tempted to stay longer. But the knowledge of obligations and the distance still left to travel pulls the traveler onward in their journey. The traveler is torn between the attraction to the woods and the responsibilities that life holds. One however can not stop at simply reading the poem on a surface level, but the poem drives and attracts us to a deeper and darker interpretation. Reading “between the lines” brings me to a cold and errie theme hidden bellow the beautiful words. Woods themselves are mysterious and dark. Almost as though they hold secrets. And the snow itself is a blanket that hides the ground, covering the lies. I can’t help but think that perhaps the traveler has something to hide and he can relate to the secretiveness the woods offer. Does the traveler in fact wish to also be hidden by the darkness of the woods? One can easily lose their way in the snow and woods, never to return. They seem torn between the desire to disappear forever or the temptation to just sit back, forget and enjoy the beauty rather than continue on their journey.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
For me, what was most present or identifiable between the two poems were the tones of deep silence and meditation; there was a strong tone of personal reflection, I felt. In both, Frost calms the reader’s soul while catalyzing contemplation within the reader as if he or she was in the shoes (or snow-boots) of the character. Feelings of solitude and separation are noticeable (not that bad solitude or separation, but that of self-discovery or personal growth); the settings of the poems aid these feelings as the character stops alone in the woods, with silent snowflakes falling, far from shelter and at the mercy of the falling night.
Free from society, only accompanied by his steed, the serenity of the piece invites the thoughts Frost’s character is having; thoughts about promises (to who or what?), sleep (for one night or eternal?), roads to travel (ways of living or believing?). Like Dickinson, I think that Frost’s poems are layered with possibilities and meanings. I cannot speak definitively on any of those possibilities. What I can say for sure is that the tone of these two pieces inspired a sense of wonder and complexity within me. It inspired a sense of realistic heaviness that comes with attempts to acknowledge the truths and realities of the world and how deeply impacting the decisions one makes about the most elementary choices or thoughts (which road to take, which promises to keep) can make all the difference.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
When I took Literature and the Environment for J-Term last year, we spent a lot of time on Robert Frost, and his poem “The Road Not Taken” continues to be one of my favorite poems ever. I think I love this poem so much because everyone can take this pretty literally. All of us have come to a crossroad at some point in our lives and that is what this poem is talking about. It says that you can either take the easy way out, and go the same direction that everyone else goes, or go the harder way, making a new path as you go. When he says that it made all the difference, I think that he means, things may get hard in your life, you maybe pick the harder of two paths to take but it will be worth it in the end.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Frost uses a lot alltireration in his poems in order to discribe a Christain life. I n the poem Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, Frost describes a long cold jounery on a winter night. He also talks about how he has miles to go before he can sleep. Winter symbolizes life on earth as being sinful and tiresome. The snow symbolizes how sin effects earth by making it a cold dark place. The rest symbolizes enternal life, and how we can feel miles away from God when everything is going wrong. Frost shows many challenges in everyday life in his poems. He shows how mankind overscheduals themselves and never takes the time to rest. He also shows in poems how God will lead us on the right path if we trust him. Too many times we don’t have enough patiences to listen to God and we wonder down the wrong path but eventually God puts us back on the right path.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
From the first Frost poem, I can see the image very clearly in my mind - the image in which a man is on his horse with no one else around and he is surrounded by snow covered ground. There is not another animal in sight - only snow and trees and this man in the center of it all atop of his horse. The man in which he believes he may possibly know who owns the woods seems to have no idea that he is treading on his ground. When the man atop the horse stops for a second or so, he takes in the beauty of a place in which everyone may seem to question. Also, at the end of the poem, it makes it seem like this man is on a journey and he must keep a promise of fullfilling that journey. That being said, his brief stopping for a moment must continue on. The second poem, though, has a more confusing message in which I am still trying to interpret. The tone from the first one is very calm and laid back, yet still somewhat rushed towards the end for the man to keep moving. The second poem, though, is more of a matter-of-fact. The man is sighing at the end, as if to say well, of course, it is better that I had taken the road less traveled to wear it in. Being so, he seems satisfied because taking that road that had grass covering it just yearning for people to tread upon it, has made some kind of difference in his life.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I must admit that after reading these comments I still have questions in my mind as to what certain metaphors truly mean. I never would have characterized the white blanket of snow as lies, though I think it is a valid and beautiful interpretation.
When I read this poem I was thinking about how snow is white; I was reminded of the Emily Dickinson poem where she calls something white “despairing”. It is possible that Frost identifies the same way; that this white stuff represents his longing to stay in the forest.
I think it is interesting that in class our image seems to be of a man in a forest when a careful reading suggests that perhaps he is not actually in the woods. In line 7 the speaker says “between the woods and frozen lake”. He may not be in the woods, and the seemingly contradictory line 4 actually fits as well; the speaker can be watching the woods fill up with snow from outside the woods. If you read it that he is on the outskirts of a wood, it appears that this poem is about a decision he must make; to enter the enticing wood or to keep his promises in another places. Like the Road Not Taken, this poem seems to be about making decisions, whether they are life/death decisions (literally) or just everyday decisions that will affect our lives whether in small or large ways.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Frost is one of my favorite poets. I love how he takes everyday images and develops them into complex ideas and metaphores. Stopping at a woods on a snowy evening is a wonderfyl example of how he accomplishes that. The poem is so wonderfully simple but i feel that is what makes it so fantastic. It doesn’t need an expert analysis for omeone to understand it, at first read, you get a feeling of wonder that the speaker is filled with as he is looking into those dark and lovely woods.
I was thinking about this poem as i was walking to my apartment. I live off campus and it usually takes me 20 minutes to walk home, usually i enjoy the walk as a time of reflection of the day and what i have done so far. However today i was dreading the cold and the snow, As i began my journey however, i thought of how the speaker in the poem was so filled with awe at the snow and i felt honored to be sharing a similar experience of walking home in the snow. That walk served as my time-out from a busy life just as the speaker’s stop to look at a snow-covered wood was his own time-out before the miles of travel ahead of him.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
In Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening,” I feel like the speaker is subtly showing how much he appreciates the simply beauty of nature without coming out and saying it. He admires the way the snow covers the woods like a blanket, to the extent that he can’t help but stop and look at it. This is his way of “stopping to smell the roses.” He feels alive in nature and has to pause to take it all in. His horse, which could be a symbol of reality and function, is puzzled as to what purpose his master could have in stopping in the middle of an empty, snow-filled forest, with nothing but a frozen pond in sight. He is escaping society, responsibility, and obligation, even if just for an instant. I think the speaker is in need of this quiet meditation in the woods, just simply watching snow fall to bring his life back into perspective. He sees beauty and so stops to enjoy it. How often do we miss that precious opportunity?
February 20th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I absolutely love Stopping By A Woods On A Snowy Evening. After talking about the poem in class, I strongly considered the danger in trying to analyze a poem to death, and the possibility of losing a simple poem’s beauty in imagined symbolism that wasn’t necessarily the author’s intent. I read a book in high school that my class spent months dissecting, looking for symbolism, asking why the author chose certain events to take place, etc. We had the author come to speak at our school later that year, and discovered that many of the things we had thought were symbolic, were in fact completely arbitrary. While we thought the death of one of the characters had a deep and significant meaning to the author, she had actually just killed the character off because she didn’t like her.
I can see same danger becoming an obstacle with this poem, which I think is as simple as it sounds, and is meant to be taken literally. The poet is speaking about a moment within a journey that he wishes could have lasted longer, but because of the promise he has made, whether it is to return home or to travel somewhere far away, he can’t linger any longer than for a few minutes to admire the beauty of nature which he sees around him in the woods.
Frost has an incredible talent for creating mind pictures so easily when writing poems. I can see the woods. The snow. The horse. The man. The imagery is beautiful, and he manages to paint that picture in four small stanzas.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I must admit that I left class today, frustrated with Stevie’s comparison of the snow in the poem to sin. So I did a little research (if you can call Wikipedia research) and discovered that Frost wrote this poem in one short burst of energy, all at one time. Frost had been awake all night writing another poem. When he realized it was morning, he walked outside to see the sun rise and the idea for “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” just came to him. He immediately scribbled down the poem. Later he would claim, “It was as if I’d had a hallucination.”
Yet this seems nearly impossible. The difficult rhyme scheme, combined with the ordinariness of the idealistic scene, seem to suggest that this poem was written carefully, agonized over, until it was just right. Not so. (Frost must have been a rhyming genius.) If the above story is indeed true, perhaps we’re reading into the poem things that simply aren’t there. If the poem suddenly “popped” into Frost’s head, I’m willing to bet that he didn’t carefully contrive a symbolic meaning. My conclusion: maybe this poem is just a pretty poem, to be admired for its beauty and simplicity, but not for its deep metaphorical value. Is anybody with me?
February 20th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I always enjoy reading Frost’s poetry because of the seemingly simple images of nature that cover a deeper meaning, and with or without the deep meaning the poem is still beautiful. The poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, is beautiful because of the definite structure of the poem which makes it easier to memorize the poem. The word-choice is interesting because Frost picked “soft” sounding words that reflected the soft falling of snow. I also think that it is interesting that the speaker of the poem thinks that the woods are lovely because it is dark out, and the speaker can not really see the woods. So what is it that makes the woods so lovely? In class we discussed that the woods are beautiful because the speaker is taking a moment out of his or her busy day to reflect on the beauty of the forest, but I had a slightly different idea. I thought that the woods were lovely because the exploration of these woods would create a new adventure for the speaker, and the speaker was looking for a new adventure to get away from day to day life.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
The poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” for me, represents how it is important to take a moment in our busy schedules to pause and take in our surroundings. The major image that Frost paints is the obvious image of the woods and the snow that is gently falling down at night. I found it interesting what was pointed out in class today, about the iambic tetrameter of the poem and how it symbolizes the sound of the horse’s hooves on the ground. Frost’s poem is full of diction that reflects the mood and tone of the poem; for example, “easy wind” and “downy flake” and “lovely.” I liked the personification of the horse. “My little horse must think it queer.” “He gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake.” The horse seems to notice that this stop is out of the ordinary, it is out of the routine. It seems to me that Frost is suggesting that humans get into a routine and keep going and never stop to soak in the moment. This poem seems to be saying that if we don’t stop, we will miss a moment that in and of itself is utterly beautiful and serene. As far as the last stanza, I think that Frost is referencing life and time. We have promises to keep and miles and miles of life’s journey ahead of us. We have schedules to pertain to and jobs and families. I also believe that the sleep that Frost speaks of is death and the end of life.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
After reading the first poem, I became very fond of Frost’s poetry. The words in which he uses are so airy yet seem so powerful. Because the poem had such a tranquil tone, I could sit back and enjoy reading the poem without thinking too deeply about it. I interpreted it as a mere moment in time that had come and gone ever so quickly, just as we discussed in class. The only lines that made me think more profoundly in relation to the poem was in the final stanza; “And miles to go before I sleep.” The speaker emphasizes this by repeating it therefore it must be of some importance. Does this mean that he/she is thinking to the future and has far to travel before he arrives at his desired destination? Or does it mean something much deeper like he is foreshadowing his own life and perhaps death?
Frost’s second poem fascinated me as well and I have read it before. When I first read this poem I took it very literal. I continued to read it and my understanding grew unclear but I began to see the speaker in different light. It seems as though he/she is convincing themselves that whatever choice they will make will be for the better or make a difference. This poem has more of a stern tone yet it is philosophical just as the first.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
After listening to the presentation on the poem, “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost in class, I gained a new perspective on this poem. That is what I think is so neat about poetry… poems can mean something different to everyone, and the meaning is in the eye of the beholder. Even though Frost was seemingly sarcastic in this poem, I could definitely relate to the friend he was poking fun at. I find myself trying to make a decision that does not have a right choice, but a subjective, better choice, all the time. “And sorry I could not travel both,” is a feeling that we all live with I am sure! His symbolism of the path as two choices is not something surprising, but it is a good metaphor. But yes, there are so many times I wish I could make both decisions and experience both outcomes, but so many times it is “one or the other.” That is why I think have two different paths be a metaphor for two different choices is perfect, because you cannot be in two places at once, and many times, you cannot have both results.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:17 am
I find “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” to be a really pleasurable poem to read. It’s rhyme scheme is very well done, giving the poem a quality of whimsicality. Yet to me, what’s so intriguing about this poem is that it uses a seemingly whimsical image to convey some deep truths about life.
Here we have the speaker, riding his carriage through a wood on a winter’s night. He’s riding along, we can only speculate as to where he’s going, and yet he feels the urge to stop his carriage for a moment just to take in the wintry landscape before him. This is a little odd of him, as his “little horse” notices, giving his “harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake.” Yet there’s no mistake, the rider just wants to stop for a moment. He wants to reflect there in the quiet wood, peacefully watching it fill with snow. Although this poem has been interpreted in many different ways, I tend to enjoy it just for the moment it describes. A beautiful, peaceful evening where a busy speakers stops for some brief contemplation. Yet I do believe that the last stanza conveys a more transcendent meaning. “These 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.” Almost simultaneously, the speaker is referring to the brief moment, yet he’s also reflecting on the entirety of his life. He has “promises to keep,” or strong commitments in this world. Before he sleeps, or dies, he must fulfill his purpose in life. …And of course he also simply has to keep traveling along. The last stanza is really powerful, it’s such a fulfilling end to this poem.
I believe “The Road Not Taken” to be a work of paradox. When really looked at, it seems that Frost is conveying two messages at the same time: he considers the two roads before him, one being well traveled and the other “grassy and [wanting] wear.” Yet “as for that, the passing there had worn them really about the same.” Frost’s tone here seems quiet, almost vaguely depressed. He is utterly pragmatic when looking at the decision presented by these roads. It’s as if there’s no metaphysical answer, nothing particularly special about the choice they offer. The poem’s speaker can simply choose one road or the other. Yet he hopes that someday, “ages and ages hence,” he will have chosen “the road less traveled by,” that “making all the difference.” I’m not quite sure how to respond to Frost in this poem. It’s as if he wants to apply value to life that he’s not quite sure is really there. The stark reality is that there is nothing all that special about the roads. Yet perhaps, perhaps one day the speaker can look back on his life and hope that it has a greater spiritual significance.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:21 am
Frost is truly a man who knows his own self. I believe that is one of the most important aspects of poetry: being able to define what is happening in your life to make it more tangible so others may be able to recognize your experience and be able to either help or simply share in your feelings.
Frost uses wonderful imagery in “Stopping by Woods…” The image of the darkened snow falling gives a feeling of the eternal. It is untouched and untainted yet it is ever falling and ever encompassing everything. As Trey mentioned above, the solitude here is that of self-reflection and growth. The speaker enjoys how lovely the snow is.
It is also worth noting the rhyme and meter of the piece. It is done with iambic tetrameter and AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD. This makes the piece more alluring, making the reader feel Frost’s curiosity and temptation to rest eternal. The last two lines of the poem, however, indicate what must be done. There are miles to go before we sleep. We need to continue to do what we were placed on earth to do. The repeating of the line indicates that it is a struggle and that it is hard work. It must be done though.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:11 am
The poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening shows a man’s journey to get away from everyday life. The poem moves from the man escaping to the wilderness, to him describing the beauty around him, and then his realization that he has things in his life to get back to and giving up on them is not an option.
“To watch his woods fill up with snow.” This line is what the man uses as his getaway from civilazation. Everyone has something like this because the demands of reality are too harsh to handle 24 hours a day. There needs to be time to meditate, pray, and just be alone in the presence of something beautiful and relaxing. Personally, I enjoy getting away from people on campus and going to the soccer field late at night. When I feel really stressed or overwhelmed with something I will go there late at night and just lay and watch the stars and think about all the good things I have before I return to the obligations of school work and life in general.
Frost says at the end, “But I have promises to keep”. I believe this to mean he has to get back to reality and face the problems that he attempted to get away from. I think this promise is to himself to stay focused on the long journey he has in front of him.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:19 am
In the Frost poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” I think it is curious to ponder the “little horse” that is also in the woods with the traveler. The traveler is obviously lost in the serenity and beauty of the snowy woods. He or she wishes to stop the business of life for a little while and simply meditate on the loveliness of the surroundings. Then, in the middle of this traveler’s musing I think the horse brings him back to reality. The horse jingles his bells as if to remind the traveler that life is still waiting for him. The jingling bells are like the noise of usual life that is constantly around us, not allowing time for silent reflection. Even in the middle of the cold, snowy woods, these bells sound the reality that there is limited time in life to merely pause and reflect. After hearing the jingling of the horse’s bells, the traveler begins to drudge on and get back to the reality of his journey. It’s sad that our busy lifestyles don’t allow for adequate time to pause and reflect, but instead it pushes us on because every day we have ‘miles to go before we sleep’.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I loved reading both of these pieces of writing, i enjoy being outside and each captures a great moment of the outdoors. I am glad that Frost decided to jot these experiences down for us to enjoy, and enjoy them we should. I was slightly frustrated in class when ideas about the first poem where brought up that stretched its meaning. I felt we were dressing up a great piece of art, that has a distinguishable meaning, into something that it wasn’t. Individual options are great, and like anything in life, you can make something into anything else you like, but that doesn’t change the fact that there was a starting point, there is a reality to the writing. Call me bitter or close minded but i guess this is what i dont like about discussion, to me other peoples options take away from a great thing that is already there. What is there to discuss, the guy is riding a horse through the snow and takes a break, take the imagery and enjoy it, dont turn it into something else. Poetry has never been a loud thing to me, it is something that you read and enjoy for yourself, it is for reflection, and the things that you get from each poem should be yours, pure to what you alone think about it. This may sound selfish, but i think with poetry alone, a little selfishness is needed to harbor the “noise” of the world. I enjoy poetry because of the things that i feel, think and see, those are my treasures, treasures in this case i don’t think need to be altered or changed.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Like Trey said, I think that both poems are significantly about meditation and self-realization. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” seems to be a poem about perspective: a younger person stops by the woods on a particular night that it is snowing, perhaps just to sit and reflect on a quiet time. I mean, after all, the last stanza talks about the promises to keep and the miles he has yet to go before sleeping. Granted, this poem is perhaps symbolic of life, of reflecting to the years of life ahead, but nonetheless it is still reflective in nature.
The Road Not Taken (or Less Travelled) is clearly talking about a particular choice. One thing I still don’t quite understand is how the one “has perhaps a better claim/ for it was grassy and wanted wear” but “was worn really about the same” as the other road. Perhaps it is a contradiction that Frost purposely implied. Nevertheless, a poem of choices it remains. One thing that was pointed out in class that I had never noticed before was the irony in the last stanza. First of all, this particular choice is so important that it would be remembered “ages and ages hence.” But the fact that he would say with a “sigh” that making a particular choice made all the difference? It sure seems like regret to me, yet still he tries to convince himself or others that it was the right choice.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I admire Frost’s love of nature. He seems skilled at taking sometime tangible, and natural and relating it to a desire or feeling. In the Road Not Taken, he relates nature walks with a person’s capacity and discernment for decision making. He compares making a decision to a fork in the road, and uses personification of the roads to wonder what the road would “want” to aid in his decision making process. I noticed that in both poems, Frost doesn’t come to a conclusion. He just hints at an idea, weather its a decision, or weather its death. I think he’s going back and forth from what he wants to what’s reality, and maybe thats why he uses something tangible, and something natural to fall back on. In Stopping by the Woods On a Snowy Evening, he speaks of what his surroundings must view his actions as, his horse must view him “queer” or sounds observed. HE really took in his entire surroundings from the snowflakes falling, the smoke rising out of the chimney, to the sounds of the horse’s bells jingling. He speaks about such intense feelings, and then the actual events going on around him bring him back to reality, and force him to face what he may or may not like. It seems his love of nature is what kept him grounded.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
It seems like most have commented on the first poem, but I would still like to talk about The Road Not Taken. I have heard this poem so many times, seen posters with the last couple of lines on it, and probably even recited it. However, as we discussed in class, I have found that most people, including myself, have completely misinterpreted the poem. By taking lines out of context, one can use this poem to give the message to take the less-traveled road and make your own path. Frost, however, had a completely different meaning. Those last couple of lines, taken in context, illustrate what the speaker is imagining he will say in the future. Throughout the poem, the two paths are described as equal, one is not more worn than the others, and so the poem is trying to say that looking back on our decisions, we often put our own wishes and thoughts into the actual memories to make ourselves feel better and feel more purpose. This meaning actually gives more depth and easier to relate to, in my opinion.
Both of these poems are very representative of Frost’s work. They both describe nature scenes, with vivid images that capture you into them, imagining yourself in the snowy woods, or in the yellow wood at a fork in the road. Frost uses nature in his poems often, and this, along with his tone in general, lead to very serene and thoughtful poems. I enjoy reading Frost because his tone is soothing, even when the topic is distressing, and his poems seem very personal and so make them easier to relate to and for them to touch me.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:06 pm
After reading the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” what I see is the characteristics of a man. A man who is on a journey on horseback through the woods. I can picture him coming up this beautiful home and him being in awe for a second, and than slightly jealous. I get this from the first stanza, his house is in the village, though;. Like I know the man who owns this but he lives in the village, unaware of what beauty and privacy he has. I am getting the impression that he is in fact jealous, saying that this man would actually care if he even looked at the house but he can’t because he is not there to watch HIS woods fill up with snow, so does this imply the man owns all the acres of wood? What man would not envy such a luxury? Right after this in the second stanza he mentions his “little” horse once again a comparison. In the third stanza I see the horse shaking his bells as if to ask if there is a mistake of why the delay? What is taking you (referring to the man) so long, lets go we have things to get too. Than the man replies in his mind with his love for this, acres and acres of woods, secluded, relaxing, and something he could only wish for. I acknowledged his words “But I have promises to keep” . I think the word But is a clever word, it somehow has a negative meaning behind it. Like when your mom tells you, yes you can go to that party, BUT be home by 1. I think the word BUT implies a stipulation, in this case, the man realizes this is not his reality, it was nice to stop and look, but he has other things to attend to, and his journey is still a long ways away.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
After discussing the poem in class, I think that I would almost prefer to think of the pop culture interpretation of the poem. I like that it forces the reader to put into perspective the effect of the choices that we make in life. It is also nice to think that the decisions that we make in the past were the ones that we wanted to make, the ones that we do not have regrets in making.
On the other hand, when it is realized that the poem is made as a sort of jab at how seriously we take ourselves it does gives a sense of reality that the everyday decisions are not as major as we make them out to be. The line “And sorry I could not travel both” accentuates the regret that we sometime feel with the decisions that we make. It teaches us that we need to be able to just relax and be able to roll with the punches. We should make the most of our life and not live in regret.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
The speaker of this poem seems to be a man, neither young nor old, traveling home from a trip. He stops to appreciate a scene in the woods, probably after a very tiresome day of traveling it the cold. I imagine it being right after twilight (no sun, cold, silent, “the darkest evening of the year ln 8”). The purpose of this poem seems to be just a simple contemplation of beauty, reminding us to slow down and appreciate creation.
Break down of themes:
slowing the horse down,
look around at the snow falling
between the lake and woods,
wondering who owns the land.
The horse is not be used to him
simply stopping to take in
the scenery.
The horse urges him to continue
because it is cold and dark.
His bell-shaking seems to say,
“Don’t we have more important things to do?”
“This contemplation was nice,
but I’m tired and have things
to accomplish,
let’s go.”
February 21st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Then the speaker talks about the fact that even though we choose the ‘path’ we always have the potential to come back to the other one. We keep the option in the back of our minds. If option (path) A doesn’t work out, then we can just go back and maybe take option B. Yet the speaker comments that ‘I doubted if I should ever come back.’ This could have two meanings. It could first be looked at as: is it possible to really ever come back to that same point and start out on the new path fresh? We will never be in that same position again because we know what the other path is, so we have already eliminated the turmoil of picking. Another view point that the reader could have is that ‘never coming back’ means that the first path worked out. There is then no need for the second path. The speaker chose a path that led him/her to the place that they needed to be, or to another split in the road. This view implies that there is no circular process to this whole option/path picking metaphor.
I prefer the last interpretation because of the fourth line in that stanza which says ‘Yet knowing how way leads to way.’ As the reader I have interpreted this to mean that knowing how life is, we choose one path, and it leads to another decision, where we have to choose another path. It is an ongoing process. Like the speaker says, we never do come back because we are always constantly going down more and more paths.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:48 pm
So far after reading a couple of Frost’s poems, I can say that they can all be read on different levels. The complexities of his poems make it so hard to miss the deeper meaning and rather focus on the surface meaning. After reading “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” I have come to the conclusion that the surface meaning is a sleep/death metaphor, and the undercurrent of gentle longing for death tinges the surface with a melancholy that reinforces and plays off the night and winter images. Form wise, note the predominance of soft, sibilant sounds, evoking the sweep of easy wind and downy flake.
Frost’s tone is sad, to say the least. Although the speaker is happy to stop briefly in the woods and look around at the beautiful scenery, he is unhappy because he has to leave and return to the village. The speaker’s depression stems mainly from his unwanted responsibility of promise that he made and needs to keep.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I love the poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening”. I remember reading it in my junior year English class. I remember that my teacher took the opinion that it was about the speaker dying in the middle of the woods. She backed up by saying that this explained why he stopped in the middle of the woods (because he had died), why it was silent (without his breathing, or his heartbeat) and also why he could not stay (because his soul was departing his body). I didn’t think that I agreed with her then, and I know I don’t agree with her now. I think that the poem is an echo of the beautiful simplicity of the situation that the speaker is in. The plain white snow blankets everything, muffling even the most obvious noise. It covers everything giving the landscape a much simpler look. This is echoed by the simple structure (four stanza’s, aaba rhyme scheme, simple language) that the poem has. He is speaking to the peaceful tranquility of the situation, and his reluctant obedience to leave this haven to go on with his business, whatever that was (and the fact that we don’t know what it was that the speaker was doing before or is doing after adds to the peaceful feeling of the poem.)
February 21st, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I’m familiar with Robert Frost and his poem “The Road Not Taken.” However, during the class discussion on Wednesday I learned something new about the poem. I’ve understood this passage in the “classical” sense, that the speaker has come to a crossroads, unsure of which path to follow, but in the end choosing to take the one less traveled and how that “made all the difference.” Now I come to understand that the poem was written about a particular friend of Frost’s and how he had difficulty in choosing what flowers, bushes, and trees to show Frost when they took a walk. There is a lesson in itself here which I would like to address before commenting more on the “classical” interpretation.
Nature has many great things to share, God’s Creation is full of wonderul and beautiful images that we tend to overlook in our busy schedules and high paced societies. This point seems to coincide with the theme of Tamaro’s essay “The Dictatorship of Happiness.” We should take the time to look around because it is possible in that instance to know our “Creator” even more, in a deeper manner. His handiwork is all around us and we are missing out simply by not taking the time to notice and enjoy.
Now to return to the “classical” view of this poem, which I still favor. Life is filled with choices and opportunities, which will lead us down a certain path. The speaker in the poem is confronted with this vary challenge, which path should he/she take. The speaker observes both paths, scanning them with his/her eyes as to which way to go. The speaker decides to take the path less traveled, even though leaves “equally lay” on both. The tone of the speaker doesn’t seem anxious or concerned with the decision that needs to be made, but makes an assesment and then follows through with the decision. The speaker reasons that the other path should be “kept for another day,” but comes to the reality that the way paths are constructed it was “doubtful as if he/she should ever come back.” Paths travel in one direction (although you could walk the other way), and life is the same way. A series of events and decisions will cause one to go in a certain direction, a progressive movement. Everyone has faced such a crossroad in life, and it is imprtant to remember that decisions shape people and their experiences, yet is any path better than another? I guess it all depends upon the person and his/her outlook on life.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:19 am
EEEk. Frost only has 5 comments…and it’s already Friday.
College is crazy.
Let’s be honest. We’ve all read Frost before and most of us can recite at least the first line of his most famous poems. I’ve never been one to like mainstream anything and Frost just seems so mainstream. I picture his name coming up on that game show “Family Feud” for most common poets. No one likes to be common. Yet, I still wanted to give him a chance. Not that I wanted to fall in love with the poetry of Frost. I didn’t. I want to fall in love with obscure eccentric poetry so people think I’m one of those cool artsy kids that create style.
Regardless, Frost does have a way with words. He smoothes them out to create this perfect picture…. typically a landscape … but a perfect picture. His poetry makes me question how I would feel if I was in that scene at that point in time.
It is hard for me to see direct symbolism but overcast sentiments definitely emerge. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at “The Road Not Taken” in a way other than decision making. The language he uses “path” “road” “step” “traveller” make me think of college. Maybe it’s because our current culture is so engraved with discussing our “path to success” “10 step process to lose 30 pounds” and other wacky visualizations about constantly moving forward in a positive way.
Did Frost create our popular culture? Our current lingo?
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:40 am
This poem to me is beauty in time and space. It makes me feels as if I was that boy/man who is riding in the woods of mystery. By telling us that we are in a wood that is not for certain, allows us to feel that we have entered into a world that is filled with a sense of mystery and a sense of adventure. Whenever I am exploring in my woods back home I feel a confidence that I am secured in my being able to forgo. As soon as I trespass onto a land that is not mine I feel something else within me. This new feeling allows me to feel a newer kind of freedom. The fact that I may be discovered on a property that I have not been given access to gives me liberation.
This poem shows me that he is stopping, not at a place in which to take refuge but as a place to pull away from. These woods are outside the realm of time. By stopping, he is taking a break from his life in whole.
The way this is written makes me want more! I want to know where he is coming from. I want to know where he is going. When the writer writes “And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” What does he mean by sleep?
I’d like to believe that sleep represents death after his journey. His eternal rest is all that will fulfill his adventures. Stopping by woods on a snowy evening shows that he can stop amidst his adventurous life. I realized that everything I just wrote is in complete gibberish so I will just retire for now and continue on another occasion. Goodnight all~
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 am
The most prominent feature of the first poem is the slow pace that Frost utilizes to create a sense of tired, tranquil period of reflection as the man stops in the woods just to observe the surroundings. If you try to read it quickly, the poem seems so empty and I even feel like I am missing part of the message of it. One must read this poem thoughtfully at a peaceful pace, not afraid to take breaths as if to make an attempt at catching your weak breath amidst the cold, crisp air just as this man must have done.
I also appreciate the rhythm Frost executes in the rhyming scheme throughout the poem. This unique pattern (AABA-BBCB-CCDC-DDDD) leads the reader from one stanza to the next, almost without even noticing this subtle link within the poem. As intriguing as the content of Frost’s poems may be, the reader still must not lose sight of the structure and flow of the poem, which adds much more depth to the poem as a whole.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Well this poem seems to be hinting that the guy is on a long journey. He takes a small break between the woods and a lake to observe what is going on. The author eludes that the owner of the woods he is in might not want him there by saying that the owners house in the village is out of sight of where he is stopped. While waiting, his horse gets confused and shakes his bells to ask if he truly is supposed to stop there or to keep going. After the horse shakes his bells, the author says, despite his desire to stay and take in more of the beauty, he must keep going because he has promises to keep and he is miles to go before completing these promises. I personally have a hard time going much deeper into this poem than that.
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
This poem has always been one I have enjoyed though I do not completely understand it. I love Frost’s closing statement that I took the one (road) less graveled by, and that has made all the difference. I find this to be the case in my own life. If I use the advice of others, however make the final decision on big issues in my life myself, I usually find myself on the road less traveled. However to this day I do not regret following my own path once. I believe Robert Frost is encouraging the reader to do just that in his or her own life. Robert wants us to make our decisions for ourselves, and enjoy the lives that God has put before us and not pay attention to those around us who simply want to bring us down.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Concerning Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. I would like to point out that the last stanza is completely different than the rest. This is significant, I think, and shows us where the importance lies in the poem. The main message is in the end. Before I talk about the end, I have to speak about the other three stanzas. I think the first stanza revolves around the third line. He is in a remote area where he could do whatever he wanted and no one would see him and most likely not here him. No one is around. The second stanza has a feeling of oddness. Whatever is happening right now is an unusual event. This has not ever happened before. Even the horse does not understand what is going on. The last line in the second stanza lets us know why this odd event is taking place. Frost loves symbolism, and here I think winter, especially the “Darkness evening of the year,” is used as a symbol for death, or a rough time in life. But it is the darkness evening, so this means this has been the worst day so far. I really do think the character in the poem did want to die. He is so frustrated with life that he stops in the woods to just get away from his demanding life and think about his life. He really would like to die, and I am sure he was contemplating death on this odd outing in the middle of the dark, cold woods with no one around. I love the third stanza because even though it does not add more to the story it gives an amazing image of what it would have been like to be standing in those woods with no other sound except your horse and the snow. Now the third stanza is the message of the poem. In a way he realizes that it would be selfish to want to die, especially since those left behind would have to live with the pain of his death. If one is suicidal, there has to be a strong commitment before they would decide to not go through with it. In a way, living would be the more courageous thing to do. I have often thought about this in my own life, especially concerning my wife. Everyone has days where they wish this life would just pass away and an easier life begin. This is especially true if you have a hope for the future, like heaven. But in the end, I think we have to realize that suicide is only a selfish act. We are only thinking of ourselves. But I do think everyone has some commitment to live for, if they really searched out their hearts.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Both of these poems are amazing examples of sybolic and complex poetry. I especially resonated with the second one and its theme of choices. The poem is difficult to understand and in fact Frost seems to contradict himself quite frequently in it. It is hard to tell when he’s being sarcastic and when he is serious. As soon as he says that the one road has a better claim and wants wear he immediately includes the fact that both roads were actually worn about the same. This is confusing and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I tend to think that Frost is suggesting that one choice is more appealing and seems to be the “right” one, but at the same time either choice will work in a sense. This is often how it is in life. We have many difficult choices to make and sometimes it is not clear which path we should follow. I feel like Frost may be endeavoring to both encourage decisiveness and also hint at the longing sort of regret that we often experience after our choices are made. The last stanza is an intersting look into the future. The sigh which Frost speaks of in the first line does seem to be a sigh of regret in my opinion. It is difficult to say what he means by “the road less traveled by”. Personally, I take this to mean that often the “right” path or appropriate choice is not a popular one. We may often be traveling with less company when we endeavor to walk down the path of integrity. However, doing so will make “all the difference” in our lives. I am unsure as to whether or not this is exactly what Frost’s intented meaning was, but it is something which definitely rings true for me in my own experience.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I thought reading the last three lines of “The Road Not Taken” as sarcasm gave an entirely new meaning to the poem. As someone mentioned in class, I had always heard the last three lines of the poem taken out of context, as a way to inspire people to “do the right thing” or to be themselves. The beauty of poetry is that you can have different readings of the same poem. So, while some people still may look at the ending of the poem as an inspiration, others may see it as Frost mocking his friend who felt that taking a different road made all the difference when in fact it might not have. One thing I have noticed about Frost’s poetry is that although he seems to frequently, if not always deal with nature, his themes can stretch far beyond praise for the natural world. For instance, one could read into “Stopping by the Woods” as a metaphor for a longing for death. Which may be what Frost intended or it may not. Either way, I think it makes good poetry when the poem can be interpreted many different ways.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I really enjoyed Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. The imagery in this particular poem was really quite remarkable. It was amazing how descriptive he was yet the poem was not great in length and the words did not hold much depth to their meaning, however it was the poem as a whole that was truly captivating. The in class discussion was great! Someone brought up the idea that we must not analyze these poems too much, for this is where we lose all its meaning. In this conversation we kind of came to the conclusion that this poem has potential to NOT hold great meaning or sub textual ideas. The poem is “in the moment” and can come across that way. The basic picture that the reader receives by reading the poem is what the poem is about. A traveler, stopping on his horse, gazing into the snowy woods, takes it all in and has shares some quick thoughts to himself. That’s it. I love that! Why do we have to go into so much depth and detail when reading and/or writing poetry! It’s so simple yet meaningful, to any and all that take the time to just read it through.
I guess I would have to say that what I love most about this poem is that it is the type of poem that anyone can read and pull their own thoughts from. There’s no “right or wrong” if you will. “A picture is worth a’thousand words…” and this poem does just that. In the few lines that there are, Frost paints a scenic picture in our minds, and leaves it up to us to continue the creativity.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I love Frost’s ability to create pictures. I just have a sense of the peace and beauty of the scene in his poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
And he is really able to capture the full range of thoughts, so that the whole scene seems incredibly real. It is interesting that he starts with the line, Whose woods these are I think I know.” At first it seemed strange to me to start there, but it is actually a perfect way to set the scene. I can easily imagine riding a horse past woods and wanting to stop to observe the beauty more fully, but first having to wonder whether it would get me in trouble with the owner. And then, having decided that probably no one would see me there, I would be able to settle my thoughts and focus just on the marvelous scene before me. And then the horse expresses its confusion, but this distraction doesn’t detract from the experience of the moment. The next line just continues a description of the setting.
I realize that Frost never directly describes the scene. I think it would be somewhat less effective to simply describe. Instead, we read about how this moment fits in with the rest of the speaker’s life, and among the lines that speak of thoughts and actions, there are small tidbits of what the scene looks like, and the rest is left up to the imagination, which makes the poem all that more beautiful, because allows the reader to imagine their own picture of beauty in the woods on a snowy evening.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost emphasizes images that are close to my heart. This poem is very soft in tone and deals with our lost connection with the natural world. I believe that our every day life clouds the beauty of our surroundings with witch God has made. How hard is it for us to get away for fifteen or twenty minutes a day to just go out and enjoy what the Lord has made. Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Traveled can also be taken in a very literal way.
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.
Literally as Christians we have been deemed to take the road less traveled upon by society standards. By choosing to do so we enable ourselves to be a light unto the world for which others to see. Frost encourages his readers to take his on standing on which road that he needs to take and not follow the road of others. I found traveling down my own life to be hard at times throughout high school, but in due time it turned out to be one of the best decisions that I have ever made.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I’ve always had a deep appreciation for Frost’s poems. There is something so simple yet deep about his poems that cause me to come back to them time and time again. I admire his passion for the world around us - the every day things that we often take for granted are precious to Robert Frost, and one cannot help but to begin to feel this same appreciation for nature after reading his poems.
So much has already been said about these two poems, but as I read “The Road Not Taken” once more a light bulb kind of went off in my head. In the poem, the speaker is standing in the middle of a fork in the road. Like Laura, I am also from New England (Massachusetts, to be exact) and was able to perfectly imagine a beautiful wooded area with tall, colorful trees and two seperate paths, each beging for my favor. The speaker looks at both paths and carefully considers each of them, favoring the “path less traveled” in the end. In the last stanza, the speaker tells us that many years from now he will probably be telling this same exact story and that he predicts that his choice of paths will have made all the difference in his life. BUT….I wonder…will the “path less traveled” really make the difference?
We tend to think that the path less traveled is the key to success. We often believe that by conforming to everyone elses standards we are setting ourselves up for mediocracy. While there is a certain element of truth in these thoughts, I believe that what truly makes a difference in life is our attitude towards it. The path that everyone else takes is only mediocre if we allow it to be. We can/should be willing to make the best out of any situation we are in. This is not to say that we shouldn’t take advantage of the great opportunities that come our way (like the path less traveled in this case), but that maybe, just maybe, the difference doesn’t lie in one single decision we take in life, but on a series of decisions and attitudes through which we pursue it.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Well I am writing this kind of last minute. I hope not to write these comments last minute but comment on the poems immediately after I read it because after I hear what other people have to say about this poem - it makes me see the poem differently than I did at first. Knowing that Robert Frost has experienced much sorrow and loss in his life allows me to see this poem differently as well. I would agree that he does contradict himself.
Whose woods these are I think I know. -He’s familiar with the woods
His house is in the village though;- although he doesn’t live there
He will not see me stopping here- who will not see him stopping in the woods?
To watch his woods fill up with snow. -self explanatory
My little horse must think it queer- or strange
To stop without a farmhouse near- because he is so used to being on a farm - after all he was a farmer. He is not used to the wooded area.
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year. - Darkness, scared, alone
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. - really quiet!
The woods are lovely, dark and deep. He feels comfortable in this darkness
But I have promises to keep, - I can’t break the secrets; I have much to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep, - and still have a lot to live
And miles to go before I sleep. -before I go …and die.
That’s my first impression of the poem. Now I’m seeing it rather, as him painting a beautiful picture of peace and beauty - and calmness.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
To start off, I have to confess that I have a most difficult time with the English language when it comes to the mechanics of it. So I am a little slow on the up take when it comes to such things. Now to the poem.
It was…well…strange listening to Robbert Frost read his own poem. I think in fact that I prefer, my Kay’s reading of the poems to that of the author. I love to think of the choices of rimes in Robbert Frost’s poem, “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening,” the way in which location of the rime in one stanza, “here” will then rime with a word in the next stanza “queer” forcing you to connect the stanza, forward and then it draws you back to the last stanza. More so than any poem that we have read so far, this poem feels comfortable to both my eyes and ears. I guess it is the symmetry? Or I guess this would be the rhythm? It has a kind of flow to it, which I guess is due to the almost perfect iambic rhythm.
On a gray day like today, after the whole week has been carried on our backs, it would be easy for me to look at “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” and draw from his words, “And miles to go before I sleep,” that it is the long awaited silence of death after a wretched cumbersome life. I am a bleak soul, and often have a difficult time enjoying the things which are joyful, and cheery. I there for find it easy to dismiss many of the poems which are merely fun. I mean the stuff which is life is deep, difficult, challenging. If we look at these poems they are dealing with life and death, they are dealing with the human condition, the essence of life. They are about the journey that each man and woman must take, they are about aging, and living with ones own decisions. I too have no choice but to look at my path, my rode as the one less travailed. I must find meaning in my life lest I loose myself in the current which is humanity.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I really enjoyed the poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. The poem speaks simply at several levels. I feel that one of the most attractive qualities about this poem is that the simplicity of it. While its not simple in rhyme scheme, with one interpretation of it can be that this poem is meant to capture a single moment and that it is literal with the exception of the personification of the horse. I feel that perhaps Frost personifies the horse to give the sense that the man in the poem is not alone. Frost gives the horse the ability to think and question. With the horse their and personified, the reader of the poem does not focus on the fact that the man is alone but rather focuses on the beauty and the description of the moment. I feel that my thoughts that this poem is literal and that Frost personifies the horse with a purpose are not absolute and are only my thoughts on the poem. I feel that this poem has many possible interpretations to many different people.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
One reason I loved this poem so deeply was because of my ability to be able to relate so deeply to it on a personal level. I too, can imagine countless times I’ve stood at the fork in the road, bending my neck as far as it will allow me just to try and imagine, catch a glimpse of what lies ahead down each path. Each are worn or desired the same amount and yet different ways. One is more conventional, the straight and narrow that so many choose. It is the “easy way” out of these woods of life. The other path however is one that is forged by innovation, determination, and heart. It will be a challenge yet again, just like the other, will lead out. Both paths look appealing yet different, yet again the same. This sense of contradiction displays almost the turmoil that many face when encountering a large decision such as this.
The author of this poem however reminds me of my father. This is especially so among the irony and sarcasm at the end of the poem. My father is the type of man that likes to not stress over things but rather make logical decisions and then enjoy life. His biggest complaint towards me is that I worry too much. Given these two choices he would logically assess both but he would not fret or pace as I would. He sarcastically argues with Frost “ages, ages hence… and that has made all the difference”. His classic phrase “one day you’ll look back on this and say, ‘did I really worry about that?’”.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I always forget that these have a deadline to be in, but it’s better late than never…When reading Robert Frost, the feelings and mental connection was slightly different from that in which I felt while reading Walt Whitman or Emily Dickinson’s works.
What I interpreted upon my first reading of this poem, was that the poet was portraying someone who was out on December 22, the winter solstice or the darkest day if the year. (As stated in the second stanza) I then connected that with the time of year; noting that it was the close of one and almost the start of another. If we think of this as someone’s life who is trying to finalize prior commitments before the year’s end, then we could say the stop in the woods was a reflection upon the prior year but yet he realizes there are things to accomplish before the fresh clean start of a new year. Soon after I realized that I had misinterpreted the poem, and had taken a weird literal view. I enjoy the discussions that we have in our class, but sometimes I feel as my interpretations are slightly different and hard to relay to the class.
As I started reading the Robert Frost poems, I realized how much I do appreciate the art of poetry. I will never forget the teacher who broadened my writing…I was in the seventh grade. I thought this man was out of his mind, but his class has made all the difference.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Both of these poems are beautiful and simple, which to me is exactly the way poetry should be. I can’t read either of these poems and pick out a tremendously deep meaning about the nature of man like I can with others, and to some extent I appreciate that about Frost’s work. Clearly “stopping by woods” is the simpler of the two. It is just a reflection of a single moment in time in which Frost experiences something beautiful and poetic existing in nature. This poem seems to exist only for one moment in time, maybe only like 15 seconds, but that seems to me like enough time for the narrator to experience a sublime connection with nature that transcends words (except the amazing lyrical words of a poet).
The road not taken confuses me. The title seems to suggest that the poem is really about the road that the narrator does not follow, but the poem itself seems to glorify the road that the narrator does choose to follow. The biggest issue is that he seems to contradict himself about the choice. It seems as though he is willing to admit that there really is no difference between the two roads, because although the one not taken is worn, the one taken is worn by the narrator’s footsteps, which he suggests makes them the same. This makes me wonder if Frost is alluding to the fact that at his, and my point in history, there really is no uncharted territory. Even though one road appears less worn, people have already been on it before him or it wouldn’t exist in the first place. I don’t want to read too much into this poem because my logic about it seems somewhat circular. Yet it seems like the last stanza explains that the decision to choose the less traveled road was actually more important (made all the difference) than the actual road. Maybe he is just coming to grips with decisions that he has made in the past, needing to justify them for his own well-being.