Poetry Explication Paper

 

Sophie Garcia 

Deana Nall  

English Comp II 

14 April 2021 

This is my Poetry Explication paper, this paper explained the background of the poet and listed the literary devices used in the poem. I gave many examples throughout the paper and it is all backed by evidence. 

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and its Meaning.

In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” Frost uses many examples of literary devices. This poem has been interpreted in many ways. In this paper, I will be going over the literary devices used and the way I personally interpreted this poem. Frost wrote this poem in 1922, early in the morning after staying up all night writing the exceptionally long poem “New Hampshire.” He had gone to view the sunrise when he suddenly got the idea to write “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and then finally published in 1923.

When researching about Robert Frost and his poems, I found that he used a lot of personification. This first example of personification used is when Frost said, “My little horse must think it queer.” He is saying that the horse must be confused about why they are stopped in the middle of the woods while it is snowing. In the next example, he is also saying that the horse is asking if there is a mistake with them stopping there. He says, “He gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake.” He gives the horse a sort of human thought and concern for the character (Moore). The man seems to be enjoying the peace and quiet of this journey, but the horse seems to show some concern and is not experiencing this same feeling. The horse feels a sense of panic because he is not sure why they are there. This is my evidence supporting the use of personification.  

Moore, Richard. "Frost's Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening and Out, Out--, and Swift's Gulliver's Travels." The Explicator, vol. 58, no. 2, 2000, pp. 95-97. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/frosts-stopping-woods-onsnowy-evening-out-swifts/docview/216775869/se-2?accountid=39906. 

           

The second literary device that I found was symbolism. Frost used this poem to symbolize a journey through life, he also used nature as a symbol. For example, when he said, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.” The woods describe a place of shelter and peacefulness for the man. Usually, woods seem to represent something negative. However, in this poem, the man seems to long for it and takes it as a time to disconnect from reality (Qiu). Some people some might even say he used the horse as a symbol too. When Frost said, “My little horse must think it queer.” He may be saying that the horse is symbolizing a “common sense” reaction or representing the characters conscience. He also said, “And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.” This may be symbolizing that the man is exhausted from his day-to-day tasks and he needs somewhere to rest (Qiu). I believe Frost used so much symbolism in this poem because he had such a deeper meaning to everything he wrote. Many of his poems have some symbolic meaning and it may be hard for some to understand what he is saying if they do not dig deeper.

Qiu, Baohua. "He is "of Two Minds about it"-A Brief Comment on Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Journal of Language Teaching and Research, vol. 1, no. 2, 2010, pp. 145-147.ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/he-is-two-minds-about-brief-comment-on-stopping/docview/741383230/se-2?accountid=39906.

            The third and final literary device I found in this poem was imagery. This poem relies heavily on imagery, mostly so readers can fully understand how the character is feeling and what he is seeing (Daily Times). The first piece of evidence I found using imagery was when Frost said, “He gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake. The only other sounds the sweep of easy wind and downy flake.” When reading this, you can picture the horse shaking his harness bells and you can see the snow falling. Frost also used imagery when he said, “Between the woods and frozen lake the darkest evening of the year.” Frost uses this scene to represent how dark the night was and to show what the man was seeing. When reading this poem, it was quite easy to spot out the use of imagery, mostly because Frost made sure to engage the readers senses in every way he could.

 

“Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening' is a Wonderful Work of Literature." Daily Times, Jan 03, 2020. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/newspapers/stopping-woods-on-snowy-evening-is-wonderful-work/docview/2333783708/se-2?accountid=39906.

 

            “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is a lyric poem that discusses everyday battles that people may struggle with. Robert Frost makes excellent use of personification, symbolism, and imagery. He has been called one of the best American poets because he was very skilled in making sure all readers could understand his writing and could relate to what he was saying. This poem does exactly that, we have all needed to disconnect from reality at points and we have all had moments where we just sit in silence with our thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

Works cited.

Moore, Richard. "Frost's Stopping by Woods on A Snowy Evening and Out, Out--, and Swift's Gulliver's Travels." The Explicator, vol. 58, no. 2, 2000, pp. 95-97. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/frosts-stopping-woods-onsnowy-evening-out-swifts/docview/216775869/se-2?accountid=39906

Qiu, Baohua. "He is "of Two Minds about it"-A Brief Comment on Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Journal of Language Teaching and Research, vol. 1, no. 2, 2010, pp. 145-147.ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/he-is-two-minds-about-brief-comment-on-stopping/docview/741383230/se-2?accountid=39906.

 

“Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening' is a Wonderful Work of Literature." Daily Times, Jan 03, 2020. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/newspapers/stopping-woods-on-snowy-evening-is-wonderful-work/docview/2333783708/se-2?accountid=39906.