deeper meaning of stopping by woods
Answers
Frost counter balances two different worlds in this poem: the world of civilization with all its responsibilities and natural world offering solace and relief.
The speaker of the poem is drawn one evening to leave the village and go out into the silent woods. It is dark and snowing...these may symbolize death. The speaker, like the reader, may be world weary and need escape from the demands of his life. It is important to note the title of the poem, the escape he seeks isn't permanent.."he is only stopping by"not intent on ending his life ...the relief he needs is offered by the silence of the natural world.
We can all identify with what the speaker is feeling when the world has been too much with us and we just need some kind of solace. His little civilized horse doesn't understand though and shakes his "harness" (cause he is harnessed by civilization) bells to remind the speaker that what ever he is doing alone in the woods in the dark in a snow storm isn't normal ("queer"). And the speaker returns to the village and the civilized world of promises and obligations. There is a definite though subtle attraction to leaving all of those demands behind but nevertheless the speaker values his commitments and obligations enough to return to them.