Question

What is the moral of the poem stopping by woods on a snowy evening

Answer 1

Frost focuses mostly on the theme of nature, and how the speaker's duties keep him from stopping and enjoying the beauty of nature.  He almost envies the owner of the woods.  He owns this beautiful land, yet he lives in town.  So there's a hint there that the owner does not appreciate what he has.

"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though"

Even the horse gives his bells a little jingle as if he knows he's not supposed to be stopping.  It's as if the horse too has a sense of duty.  He understands that he is to keep moving and will stop when he gets to his stable. It's almost a reversal in roles here.  The man should be the one who continues on and the horse, being considered a part of nature himself, should long to stay a while.  Here it's the opposite.

The speaker longs to stay and enjoy the beautiful scenery, but knows he must move on after his brief stop.  He has "miles to go before [he] sleep[s]."



The two previous posts show how the interpretation of literature is fundamentally arbitrary.  There's no one right answer -- the first says it's about death, the second about accomplishing duties.

The eNotes discussion of themes of the poem argues that there are three main ones:

Beauty Return to nature and how difficult it is to do this given the demands of everyday society. Duty and responsibility

As a non-literature person, I have always been struck by the beauty of the imagery or maybe it's the rhythm of the poem.  But I've always thought it was a beautiful and soothing poem.

If I had to pick what I think is the central idea, I would agree that it's about the second bullet above.

At the beginning of the poem, the speaker stops in the woods and simply enjoys the scene before him. He's in the country, and it is snowing. The beauty of it overwhelms him, and it's so quiet that the speaker hears nothing but a very gentle wind. He wants to go further into the woods, but if he gets lost, he won't be able to fulfill his obligations that he has in town, and he takes his promises to others very seriously. The speaker contrasts the man-made modern world with the elegant beauty of nature. He's more attracted to the natural world of the falling snow and the quiet, peaceful setting of nature, but he's pulled away from it by his obligations in the modern world.

It seems that the narrator is contemplating death on this "darkest night of the year." Not that he is thinking about ending his own life, but he feels the lure of death that will be there later for him. Death looks to him "lovely, dark, and deep." Not scary, not grim, but rather welcoming, almost a relief.

But it is not yet his time, for he has connections with other people, "promises to keep" and a long way to go before the end finally comes..."miles to go before I sleep." Yet, it feels like he is comforted by the thought of the end in the distance. One day, sure, but not right now.



This poem is about taking time to appreciate the beauty and wonder of nature. The speaker is overwhelmed by the sight of the snow on the fields, and he stops to enjoy it. He must move on, however, because he has responsibilities and "miles to go before I sleep."

Answer 2

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