Question

1) When the poet says "But I have promises to keep"; he means that
(a) He has to make his life successful
(b) He has certain duties which he must discharge
(c) He has to follow what he has said to his friends
(d) He has to make people happy.​

Answer 1

Answer:

Here is your Answer

Explanation:

 The poet intends this phrase to have literal meanings, by stating that the speaker is traveling, and needs to cover some distance before getting back home.‘The woods are lovely dark and deep and I have miles to go before I sleep’

The first time I came across these lines was on the desk of my then Director of the Pasteur Institute of Southern India. Dr N Veeraraghavan. He was a well-renowned scientist and I was a novice on my first job.

Five decades have passed.

One day I asked him what it meant to him. He gave me a very sound explanation and also said that the same lines were on Nehru’s desk. I understood the lines to mean the juxtaposition between life and death.

Over the next five decades, I wrote thousands of poems and published thousands. ( I cannot recite a single one. I wonder why?)

These words changed meaning over those years!

As age wrote its wrinkles and life passed before me I saw deep meanings in those lines. Here is my explanation. It is based on the life and its experiences:

You are young, completely driven by life’s needs. You struggle, unsure of what you want to do. You are a creative person, lost in the tumult of reality. You are depressed (The woods are lovely dark and deep).

Yet I must go on. There are things to do ( Promises to keep) Biological destiny, family, writing and commitments, limited income, rents, food, mortgage, children, education, schooling, teenage years, adulthood. These are all promises to yourself that you must keep. These are responsibilities. So where am I -reflective thought.

You are just at the beginning of life and the pull between being poor and a penniless poet and a settled writer is huge ( and miles to go). But life must go on.

I cannot sleep until I answer my responsibilities ( Promises). Everyday sleep is a must and everyday sleep corresponds to permanent sleep- (death). Both forms of sleep are important. Nobody lives forever.

……

We must remember that Frost had several personal tragedies in his life. He lost two children. His wife turned him down on his first marriage proposal. He lived on a farm purchased by his grandfather.

Eventually, he settled down to creative writing and was named Poet-Laureate. He was at the inauguration of Kennedy and his works were widely published by then.

The full poem is a metaphor for life and death. The journey is on horseback ( which means he understood his responsibilities). The house he sees with its lights on this journey is an escape route.

He could stop doing what he was doing but he cannot and should not. The horse objects with the shaking of the head and the sound of the tinkle bells around its neck. This means the difficulties he must face are not too big.

Finally, the poem closes with these famous lines.

The beauty of this particular poem is it lends itself to many interpretations. It can mean many things parallel to life and death, responsibilities, depression, introspection, emotion, creativity and isolation, purpose and an epitaph at the finish line.

Frost uses the masculine gender throughout. This was normal at the time of writing. Through logic, we see strong influences of the feminine gender on his works.

On the whole a simple poem with a complex afterthought. Most enjoyable to read and reflect on.

Answer 2

When the poet says "But I have promises to keep"; he means that he has certain duties which he must discharge.  Thus, the answer to this question will be option B.

• This is Robert Frost's poem stopping by woods on a snowy evening.
• Robert Frost was one of America's greatest poets. He won four Pulitzer prizes for his work.
• This poem is about the narrator going through a snowy forest on the way to his village. The narrator mentions the beautiful forest covered under the snow.
• This poem could be seen as an allegory about the journey of life and the distractions we face along the way.
• Near the end, the narrator says, "But I have promises to keep," this line showcases that there is some unfinished business or duties that must be fulfilled.
• The promises here are the duties needed to be discharged by the narrator.
• Thus, when the poet says "But I have promises to keep," he means that he has certain duties which he must discharge.  Thus, the answer to this question will be option B.

#SPJ2