Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost

Background:
   
    Robert Frost's poem 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' was written in 1922 at his house in Vermont and then published in 1923 in his collection of poems called New Hampshire. Frost wrote this poem right after staying up all night writing his longer poem of the collection "New Hampshire". The words came to him as he went outside to watch the sunrise.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 

By Robert Frost

  Whose woods these are I think I know.   

  His house is in the village though;   

  He will not see me stopping here                                         

  To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

    

Analysis:
    
    This four stanza poem by Robert Frost consists of a very simplistic style of poetry. Because of the absence of deeper meanings and poetry humor, 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' reaches out to a larger and more diversified audience. The speaker stops by some woods on a snowy evening and is compelled by the lovely attractions to stay longer but he has 'promises to keep' and a long way to go before he can rest. I think Frost composes this poem with a very unique method. Within each stanza the last word of the first line rhymes with the last words of the second and the third lines leaving the third line to rhyme with the last word in the first line of the next stanza.