Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost
January 18th 2009 21:01
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 the 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.
I love this poem because it's a perfect marriage of idea and form. This is actually a variation on the sonnet form, and it reminds me of the Spenserian sonnet's interlocking rhyme scheme, though this poem has a much narrower scheme. The rhyme scheme here is AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD. It almost seems like a combination of the Italian sonnet and Spenserian sonnet, taking the very narrow and repetitive rhyme of the Italian and interlocking it stanza by stanza like the Spenserian sonnet.
The poem's written in perfect iambic tetrameter, all except for the last line of the third stanza, which has an extra syllable. Although "the easy" can easily be melted together to sound like "th'easy", I think it would have actually been better if the word "the" had been taken out, to leave "of easy wind and downy flake." But, Frost was the master, and apparently the critics liked this poem, so maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.
The repetitive rhyme scheme and appealing meter make it sound like a song, and maybe that's the way he wanted it to sound anyway. It could easily be put to music. I like it because it talks about a regular, everyday occurrence and makes it beautiful in a simple way. I also appreciate this poem because it's tough to make a poem with such a tight rhyme scheme and meter make sense and be meaningful. But I suppose that's why Frost was famous. This is definitely one of my favorite poems of his.
Tomorrow I'll look at a villanelle I wrote recently, some qualities of which I don't really like, and I'll explain why. It's difficult to change a villanelle without completely re-writing it...I guess I'll figure it out.
See you tomorrow and have a good night!
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