For Your Written Assighment

Robert Frost 

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Listen:

When asked to reveal the hidden meaning of his poems, Robert Frost's response was "If I wanted you to know I'd had told you in the poem." Born in San Francisco in 1874, Frost spent his early childhood in California, then moved to Massachusetts at the age of 11, following the death of his father. He spent much of the rest of his life in New England. Frost taught at a number of New England institutions to support himself and his family; but his true passion was writing. He once said that he wanted to write, "a few poems it will be hard to get rid of." Frost wrote one of his most famous poems, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," at his home in Shaftsbury, Vermont in 1922. It was published the following year in a volume of poems called New Hampshire, which earned Frost one of the four Pulitzer Prizes he would receive in his lifetime. This clip came from a 1958 film shot at Frost's farmhouse in Vermont. In addition to reading two poems in the film, Frost also recalls personal experiences—as a mill worker, cobbler, and farmer—that helped inspire his poetry.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" from THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1923 1969 by Henry Holt and Company. Copyright © 1951 by Robert Frost. Used by arrangement with Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Interactive Learning

How to analyse Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

An analysis of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" begins with reading the poem. It's short. Read it several times. Step by step instructions:

a.     Annotate the poem using the following steps:

                                                             i.      identify the rhyme scheme

                                                           ii.      identify the meter and any examples of straying from the meter

                                                        iii.      if the poem is difficult, summarize each stanza

                                                        iv.      circle important words, ambiguous words, and words you need to look up

                                                           v.      circle examples of figurative language

                                                        vi.      write questions

                                                      vii.      write down insights.
              b.     Draw conclusions based on the information you gathered while annotating.

c.      Write the analysis. The following steps are for how to write a paragraph analysis:
                             i.      The topic sentence should state the poem's theme (one that may not be so obvious).

                                                           ii.      The examples, facts, citations from the poem you're analyzing should support your topic sentence.

                                                        iii.      Provide analysis explaining how your facts support your topic sentence.
ASSIGNMENT I

1 . Study the verse thoroughly. Read it aloud in a slow sing-song manner to determine its metre and kind of foot.

2. Choose the appropriate:

a) metre (monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, octometer);

b) foot (of 5 kinds of feet in English: iambus, trochee, anapaest, dactyl, amphibrach).

3. Describe the metres employed in the verse

4. Determine which is more essential here in Frost's verse, - metre or rhyme.

a) choose the appropriate rhyme from perfect, nonperfect, single (or male) rhyme.

b) say if the rhyme is used by R.Frost to emphasize the shape of the verse.

5. Give characteristics of the types of lines and stanzas in the verse.

a) lines, rhyming in pairs, and lines of nonperfect rhyme;

b) lines of monometrical foot or tetrametrical foot;

c) the stanzas are of two or four lines.

6. Sum up all the above mentioned features of the verse and say if it is metrical with a regular rhyme-scheme or partly metrical, with an irregular rhyme-scheme.

7. Study the vocabulary of the verse and say:

a . Who do the following refer to?

"I think I know", "his words", "think it queer", "He gives", "To ask if .", ". the sweep of easy wind", " . lovely, dark and deep", " . before I sleep".

b. Which verb goes with the phrases:

"to watch his wood", "his harness bells a shake", "... if there was some mistake", ".   promises to keep", "And miles to go".

c. Say which of the words are the most appropriate to describe: woods, sounds, the horse, the time, the poet.

8. Study the syntax of the verse and comment on usage of the purpose clauses. (Pick them out from lines 4, 6, 1 0). Give examples of anaphoric sentences.

ASSIGNMENT II

1. Comment on the title of the verse.                                                                           

2.  State the main idea of the verse.

II. Comment on the poetic features of the text.

a)  rhythmical;

b) lexical;

c) stylistic.

III. Speak about the vocabulary of the verse, its morphological, semantic and poetic features.

IV. State the grammar forms in the verse and comment on their stylistic value.

V. Pick out and give examples of a peculiar kind of a rhythmical poetry based on reiteration of words and phrases. Say why they bring forth unexpected semantic effects. Don't forget about intensifiers "but", "and".

VI. Comment on detached epithets describing woods (lines 4, 13) farmhouse, line 6), promises (line 14) and miles (lines 15, 16). State their stylistic value.

VII. Speak about object-images in the verse:

1 . Give examples of metaphors, similes, repetitions in which the following associations are made: flakes, the wind, the horse, the only other sound, he and his, I sleep.

2. Say what connotations the words "sweep", "queer". "stop", "sleep" have for you.

3. Give examples of personification and exaggeration (hyperbole).

VIII. Comment on the devices which help to produce the musical effect and sometimes onomatopoetic-imitating sounds of nature:

a) alliteration in sounds and phrases;

b) punctuation in pair-rhymed lines, run-on lines, end-stopped lines.

IX. Characterize the key of the verse as lyrical, dramatic, epic or grotesque. Comment on your choice.

X. Determine the tonal message of the verse as genial, sad, lyrical or ironic. Say why.

XI. Summarizing your analysis don't forget to add:

what you think the poet's purpose is describing this scene; what the author is trying to help us imagine; what you think about the poet's message; if it is cognitive, informative or puzzling;

how you understand the poet's symbolic representation and what it adds to the verse;

what feelings this poem communicates to you. Are they named or expressed indirectly;

what physical details are selected to suggest precise secondary meaning;

which of the five senses (touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight) are exercised by the readers;

that the poem was highly appreciated for its remarkable optimistic power and was awarded the Pulitzer prize.

 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 

Questions

1. Why do you think Frost uses the word "woods" instead of "forest"? How are these two words different from one another?
2. Why does our speaker worry so much about who owns the woods?
3. Many people have criticized Frost for being too concerned with the past or with things that have nothing to do with the modern world (like  radios and TV). Do you agree with this criticism? Can you relate to this poem?
4. Why do you think Frost titled this poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening?"
5. Does it bother you that Frost rhymes "sleep" with "sleep"?

You can find a lot of useful information about how to read poetry in my earlier posts. Here's some links to R.Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods". Remember you 've promised to do outside reading after you 're through with your own analysis!

Criticism

Analysis

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