Explain the concluding four lines of the poem " stopping by woods on a snowy Evening"
Answers
Like much of Frost's work, it's a poem about the contemplation of nature and man's relationship to nature. The poem describes a man making his way home on a snowy evening to stop and watch a neighbor's woods fill up with snow, despite the cold and the late hours.
Answer:
In the last stanza the speaker is reminded that he has obligations and responsibilities. He has been far away in his solitary thoughts and now is returning to reality. Either he cannot just sit there looking at a beautiful scene, or else he cannot commit suicide on the spur of the moment. He has food for his family and probably Christmas presents in the sleigh. He regrets having to continue on his journey, but he has a long way to travel in his slow-moving horse-drawn vehicle before he gets home. The repetition of the line "And miles to go before I sleep" seems to suggest that he is also thinking that he has a long life ahead of him, with many problems to deal with, before he finally goes to sleep forever.
Even if the poem does not suggest a secret "death wish," as critics have claimed, it does seem to contain a thought about death. This is certainly understandable, and even appropriate, considering the time of year, the time of night, the darkness, the isolation, the coldness. Everybody thinks about death occasionally--but that doesn't necessarily mean that they want to expedite it.