ANALYSIS ON FROST"S POEM STOPPING BY THE WOODS.
The persona is experiencing the breathtaking beauty of the snow,and although his conscience tells him he shouldn't be stopping(Stanza One,his evident guilt),he has a greater poetic motive,a selfish desire to enjoy the beauty of the woods in the middle of winter.The woods provide security for Forst/teh persona,because he is comfortable in them,and safe from the responsabilities that are weighing down his journey.However the woods also represent danger.To rest too long in the woods while snow falls could be to lose one's way,to lose the path,to freeze and die.They are lovely,and myterious,but they are also "dark", "deep",and confusing for the horse(who is representative of society and the expectations and responsability on Frost).The poem is simple in structure and rhythmic form,and this emphasises the simplicity of the ideas of the poem.The woods offer the poet a chance of escaping his commitments,even temporarily.Whereas the poet's life is full of discipline(the horse's shaken "harness bells" are an explicit reminder of his commitments), the woods offer a natural world where the only sound is "the sweep of easy wind and downy flake".Frost,or the persona has a choice.Stay,or leave?But he is compelled by his obligation,by the demands of practical life,to move on down the tough road and serve others.Frost conveys these ideas with evocative language and images.
Another striking point in the poem is the deep and hidden meaning of the last two lines("And miles to go before I sleep").The first line of the two means,literally,that the persona has a long way to go before he can get home.The second line,however,is much more complex.It refers to the amount of time the man has until he dies.The persona may have been contemplating suicide,but after spending some time in the woods,he realized that he has too much left to do in life to end it all.In this way,these snowy woods were his salvation.