Central idea of poem stopping by woods on a snowy evening
Answers
The poem “stopping by the woods on a snowy evening” is written by Robert Frost. The poem is set in the woods and the speaker here is the stranger who stopped there, admiring what his eyes saw, the beautiful view. In the opening stanza, the poet wonders about owner of the woods and thinks he knows him.
The stranger is in the woods and has a horse who thinks its weird that its owner has stopped in a place that does not have a farmhouse , but a place that is in between the woods and the frozen lake. The woods are cold, dark, silent, lifeless and deep. He is the only person there and can hear the “sweep of easy wind and downy flake”. The stranger wants to stay there but he cannot since he has to go back, to where he came from.
There are many symbols in this poem that have acertain meaning to it. The woods represent journey in life, but since its winter the trees are bare that give a sad image. The horses’ bell brings back the stranger to reality and make him conscience of the surrounding. There is a conflict in a sense that the winter represents sadness but the snowflakes show happiness.
The theme revolves aroun the poet’s philosophy, the stranger here is really sad and would love to stay in the woods where he is all alone (except the horse) away from the rest of the world. He has to decide whether he should just end there or get back to his responsibilities. We know this because he says “the woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep.” He has to decide between temptation and his responsibilities.
In conclusion, the poet tries to tell us that everyone in life has their shares of ups and downs, and many are tempted to end their lives but then there are more important things in your life, like your responsibilities towards certain things.