Beyond the Lines: “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

By David Gosselin

A century after its composition, Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” continues to leave readers, academics, poetry lovers, and poets alike pondering its meaning.

Undoubtedly, the poem has a magical quality: its images are simple, yet elusive; the scene of dark woods, snow-blanketed trails, and a single farmhouse are painted with clarity, yet they remain open to a wide array of interpretations. Despite its subjective qualities, the poem’s “magic” has a definite structure—one well-worth investigating.

Frost himself once commented on the poem, saying that it was his “best bid for remembrance.” Other accounts report that whenever he was asked if the poem was about death or suicide, he simply replied “no.” Taking these limited accounts into consideration, let us look at Frost’s poem and investigate the deeper structures of this timeless composition.

As most Frost readers are well aware, he seldom presented a set of images or landscapes without at the same time weaving in some deeper metaphorical meaning. This approach is echoed in Frost’s famous aphorism: “A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” Below the pleasing surface lurks a deep and subtle lesson.

The poem reads:

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.

At first glance, the poem does seem to present a simple scene, but upon further analysis, a very nuanced set of lines appears. Beyond the snowy path, single farmhouse, little horse, and dark woods—the poem’s “surface structure”—there lies a “deep structure.”