The Two Worlds in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening :: Stopping Woods Snowy Evening

The Two Worlds in Stopping by Woods Stopping by Woods    The visible sign of the poets preoccupation is the recurrent image of blue(a) woods and trees. The world of the woods, a world offering perfect quiet and solitude, exists side by side with the realization that there is also another world, a world of people and social obligations. Both worlds have claims on the poet. He stops by woods on this darkest evening of the year to watch them replete up with snow, and lingers so long that his little horse shakes his harness bells to ask if there is some mistake. The poet is put in mind of the promises he has to keep, of the miles he compose must travel. We are not told, however, that the call of social responsibility proves stronger than the attraction of the woods, which are lovely as well as dark and deep the poet and his horse have not moved on at the poems end. The dichotomy of the poets obligations both to the woods and to a world of promises--the latter filtering l ike a barely perceive echo through the almost hypnotic state induced by the woods and falling snow-is what gives this poem its singular interest.... The artfulness of Stopping by Woods consists in the way the two worlds are established and balanced. The poet is aware that the woods by which he is stopping belong to someone in the village they are possess by the world of men. But at the same time they are his, the poets woods, too, by virtue of what they mean to him in terms of emotion and private signification. What appears to be simple is shown to be not really simple, what appears to be innocent not really innocent.... The poet is fascinated and lulled by the empty wastes of white and black. The repetition of sleep in the final two lines suggests that he may succumb to the influences that are at work. There is no reason to suppose that these influences are benignant. It is, after all, the darkest evening of the year, and the poet is but between the woods and frozen lake.