Eleonora Galindo Martnez

Ingls Prefacultativo
Prof. Emiliano Gutirrez Popoca
5th December 2013

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost

Effects on the reader
In a poem, every detail is crucial. The length, the rhyme, the rhythm,
every word chosen: all of these create a particular atmosphere, which
may or not have been intended by the poet. In Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening, Frost uses a very specific combination of words,
metrics and rhymes that create an almost hypnotic effect, inducing the
reader into feeling that they are experiencing the events being
described in the poem.
The rhymes follow a strict pattern: aaba bbcb ccdc dddd. Seen in
this way it seems repetitive and to some extent tiresome, yet it has a
clear purpose which reflects in the effects: the use of the same rhyme
thrice with one variation in the third verse is intends to make the
reader, or rather the listener, accustomed to the rhyme of the first two
verses and relax, believing that what follows will be the same as it was
before, then introduces the variation to avoid the listeners attention to
drift from the poem.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter, a composition that seems
almost as natural as if it were common speech. Yet, in this particular
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poem, the cadence produced by the metrics has the intention of

emulating, instead of a conversation, the sound of a horse walking, as
the speaker finds himself near the woods in the company of his horse.
This pattern creates a sound effect that lets the reader slip into the
poem as if being on a horse too.
Frost mixes words of casual speech with poetic language, creating
the sensation of the poem being a mixture of a conversation between
the speaker and the reader after the event has taken place and a
conversation of the poet with himself while it is happening. In the first
stanza, the speaker mentions his doubt on whether he knows who owns
the woods, allowing the reader to suppose he is talking to them, but
then says me as if he were alone. Later he talks about his horses
reaction to his stopping and the whole scene, as if he were describing it
to someone else but either his mind is lost in the memory or he is still
there, seeing it. Then, he seems to remember that in spite of his desire
to stay and watch he has things to do and a long way to go, finally
clearing that he is indeed still living the narrated event.
The first stanza conveys the idea of solitude, when the speaker
seems to talk to himself, expressing the possibility of knowing who
owns the woods, and mentioning that since the owner is in town, he
will not see [him] stopping here/ to watch his woods fill up with snow.
The second stanza mentions both the distance between the place in
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which the speaker is and the rest of civilisation as well as the presence
of another entity, the horse, which gives the reader a sense of comfort,
since even if the scene is beautiful it hints the possibility of danger,
despite the fact that the horse is described to be restless in the
following stanza. Finally, the last stanza shows the desire of the
speaker to stay and watch the woods a while longer, but then mentions
that he has promises to keep, / and miles to go before I sleep, which
is the cue for the reader to step out of their lethargy and into reality.
Through a careful combination of words, rhymes and metric,
Robert Frost creates one of his most memorable poems not only
because of the beauty of the scene it describes, but for all the little
details that allow, or perhaps force, the readers to feel themselves as a
part of the poem.