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 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.
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simply the best!
one of my earliest poety recollections ....I can still picture the rider and horse breaking the silence of the falling flakes with a few horse bells tinkling .....just wish there was more as I can also hear the horse snorting and impatience at his riders need to linger here in the darkened frigid air of winter's solstice frosty with the horses breath -
I am so humbled and so inspired by this poem. It is nonpariel
I find such warmth in this poem a warmth that is added to by the contrast of its setting. It is an expansion on and within a pause in time, and we the readers are invited to step within its confines momentarily. We are allowed to share with the poet his perceptions and thoughts...and the sharing is so very kindly and gently conveyed and the scene, he so masterfully describes, is so quietingly silent. -
Delightful
The (almost childlike) simplicity of utterance which is one of Robert Frost's hallmarks, is evident in this
poem which conveys its image without any artificiality or obscurity.
One can sense the snowcovered miles that the rider and mount have still to cover.
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Very easy to read yet profound with simple language....amazing!
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I love this poem. It's like being rocked to sleep, but just as your eyes close being unceremoniously dumped out of the cradle and expected to brush yourself down and move on.... Does anyone understand what I mean?
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I have never seen know, atleast not a lot of it. But he paints such a picture with it, i feel like I am there in the snow seeing what he sees and feeling what he feels. This man is trully a Gifted man.
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Such a beautiful image, watching the snow fall in the forest, seeing the limbs weigh down from the beautiful white carpets of ice. The poems form that this is written in is awesome and flowed rather well from my lips. An awesome piece!
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beautiful
I love the creative power of the Rhyme. Marina Cvetaeva said that the people want the rhymes. this meaning that, although sometimes used in poor thoughts, it is something that captures our attention, make us turn the head. A young who starts reading poetry should be aware of how deep in ourselves the rhyme is rooted. And not only as a way to keep our attention, it something more, a reminiscence of the old times, of when we could not speak, and only sing. -
this is my all time favourite poem. every time i read i am enthralled. and i never miss a chance to read this poem, whenever i get it. the word used in this poem are so simple, yet so beautiful. the imagery is so perfect.
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One of the first poems I ever heard
I love this poem -
Like a few other comments I have read, this too was my first poetic experience if I can call it that. This was the first piece of poetry I was really introduced to in Jr. High, probably because the teacher liked the meter and it was a great example of an amazing piece of poetry. I've always remembered it, because I was fascinated at how the words just went together so well. I've just about memorized it by now, but even so, every time I read it it seems to be better than the last. =)
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Who walks alone in the night? Or even who rides alone in the night? Can’t you see, what has changed? Snow is a beautiful thing when you are alone, afoot, and miles from home.
Your comfort, makes you fear the slightest discomfort,
Your passion for a better life has left you starved.
I don’t curl by the glowing TV, like an old dog by the fire. I like to walk at night, I’ll take a nettle or two, or a barbed wire fence, but I like to walk at night, even if it is snowing.
This is what you should get from and old Poem! -
Inspiring
This poem is the one that made a lasting impression on me as a child. Made me develope an interst in poetry and story telling. My personal favorite poem of all time.~~Suseann -
i love the end. Frost was a very faithful friend.
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Very Beautiful Poem
How Very Realistic approach...One of the best rather the best poem by the Great Thinker Frost -
"It has a spiritual, inspiring and ethereal feel which is unmatched by any other piece of writing." Wow. This description so entices me, I can only thank my ninth grade English teacher for cramming this one down my throat in time to digest it before I stuck the oldpoetry gun in my mouth.
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This poem is the one the first got me into poetry actually, in junior high we had to do a poetry unit and i thought oh no poetry but when i read this one i became fasicnated with it! RObert frost is my favortie poet!!
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This was one of the first poems by Robert Frost that I ever read, at the time I didn't realize it or his popularity, and it has remained by favorite since. I had to memorize a poem for extra credit in high school English class, and while I was flipping through my textbook, I came across this wonderful poem. I memorized it in that period, but my teacher was busy, so I didn't recite it. I kept repeating in my head all day though. Even when I was in French, reciting a dialogue, I almost blurted this out. Throughout that year I would continuously find myself muttering this under my breath or even writing it out completely word for word on a binder. I never did recite it for that extra credit, but I don't think I'll ever get this one out of my head It just flows so well, and the rhyme is just so on. The imagery, literal and otherwise, has and always will stick with me.
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People spoke about suicide here. HHmmmm..... I like seeing things from a positive angle.
The first part of the poem examines the wood in lovely detail. Its enchanting beauty captures the poet's journey to a standstill. He admires, and admires, and admires the woods, even though his horse thinks its queer to stop.
I agree that 'sleep' in the ending stanza refers to death. The poet cannot stop long in these woods he admires so much, because he has duties to perform.
"Miles to go before I sleep."
He says he has enormous responsibility. And repitition of that is not a sign of tireness, but of resolve rather.
You know, its always the same world over. When somethings are of great origin, people refuse to believe its simple. they are stubborn that it must have something complicated, something hidden, cause its of great origin. -
The last stanza just has to be my favorite of the whole poem. To me it just says so much in so little words. I heard this on a show and had no idea what it was but I knew I love it. Then in English did I know it was a Robert Frost. This is one of my Favs by him.
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This is undoubetedly one of Frosts best poems (or indeed the best)...
The rhyming scheme just rocks...never read anything like it before...It reminds me of good times when i first read it in school...
The last stanza (last four verses) in my opinion actually are the best verses of the whole poem and have many layers of meaning in them...its upto the reader as to how he interprets it...
My interpretation used to be that the poet is a simply great naturalist like wordsworth and hes just praising the beauty of the wild forests and mother nature...but in these comments i read that there were people who thought it is suicidal...well i dont agree with them but it might still imply towards suicide but the point that dissuades me from beleiving it suicidal is that the poet says that he has 'miles to go before he sleeps'...and also 'promises to keep' I didnt think that when once a person decides to lay down his life he thinks too highly of his unfulfilled promises...Anyway thats my opinion, dunno if anyone agrees with me...
But one thing is for sure the poem absolutely rocks...
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This is such a beautiful poem with very nice analogy to life.
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this is one of my all time favorite poems and my favorite by Frost. I love all his poems though... the rhyme schemes are simply amazing and how he can put so much thought into so few lines....
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This is my all time favorite.Read this as a child,as was so intranced with it. Made me start to love poetry.So inspiring that it puts you alone in the sled beside him surveying the scene. Awaken all your feelings of exploring life. Suseann
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'maybe i had miles to drive
and promises to keep'(leonard cohen)
Insprirng stuff. Nuff' said. -
Up in Illinois, we lived on quite a bit of property, which had woods with a creek running through them. Our driveway was like a quarter of a mile long, and when I was little my mom and I would walk down the driveway in the snow and recite this poem. I love this poem so much...it reminds me of when I was little =).
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hm.
i heard it's about suicide.
"He will not see me stopping here"- this is almost "it's okay, i can take 5 minutes off to contemplate suicide because no one will know" bit farfetched i know, but plausible nonetheless.
when i first read it i had the sense it was about giving up. the last line ~(reiterating the previous) sounds tired, and capitulated.."And miles to go before i sleep," the first time he says this, it's almost said with purpose as it follows on from "But I have promises to keep" telling us he has a lot more to accomplish before he comes back to this dreary-eyed sleep world or death- as some say. but the second time..sounds less enthusiastic and the idea of living-on sounding more tedious. the repetition of the line changes the previous line too "But I have promises to keep"- displaying it in a different context: promises becoming ties, ties that prevent him from staying in this "limbo" where he is neither living or dead: pit stop.
the last two lines are almost hypnotic, the whole poem is very sleep-orientated, "downy flake" - the fall of snow reflect the falling into sleep.
"My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near" - i love this, my favourite bit.. i mean, a "pragmatic horse" : it's wonderful! Personification of the horse epitomises what people would think of this pertinacious behaviour, in both senses. In the literal sense: there is no point in stopping in the middle of nowhere for nothing. In the metaphorical: suicide should not be contemplated, but either done or not done..there should be no decision to it, for if it was meant to be, it would have been. also, suicide in Frosts' time was less understood than nowadays, so yes..thought of as very "queer"..especially when the mind frame of the suidal person is not known, which is often the case. poor horse
"The darkest evening of the year." - darkness is often associated with death, though interpreted as a sad and horrible place. here, darkness is the comfort...the light at the end of the tunnel if you like (
hehe) peace after the dying and suffering within life. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep." - very comforting imagery darkness reveals.
i have a theory about suicide and dying, although heavily flawed. i believe you automatically start dying the second you contemplate suicide...the thought of escape never leaves once you turn this corner. it's unfortunate that this has to be the case.
"He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake." - hehe, i love this horse...it's all confuzzled, but simultaneously seeming to have more sense than it's rider.
dunno why i exploded the poem like i have done, i suppose it's because this is my favourite poem by Frost and never had the chance to explore it in any kind of depth before.
i have a new kind of respect for this one..
sara
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Oh my goodness, this brought back such wonderful memories of the first time I heard this. Sigh.
♥ Kimberly -
I read this before I knew it was famous and liked it anyway... I even put it to song without changing any words- a rare sign of a truly great poem...
Edited on Jan 26, 11:42 p.m. because '...Oft I err...'. -
We were reading this poem at school, and one of the people in my class thought it was about suicide. Immediately, after she said that, I began to notice a different meaning in this poem that I'd never seen before.
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep" Perhaps the woods are a metaphor for death...to some suicidal people, death can be seen as beautiful, a lovely escape from a painful life.
"But I have promises to keep" The speaker in this poem may have promised someone that he wouldn't kill himself, and this is the promise that he speaks of.
The ending lines in the poem seem to suggest that the speaker is giving up..."miles to go"...he seems to already be tired of the journey, although he hasn't even started it. That's what I think...I'm probably wrong.
The rhyme scheme in this is beautifully done...I didn't notice it until the second time I read it, and then, I was amazed. I've never seen this rhyme scheme before, and I really liked it
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Trying to come up with the meanings to this poem is difficult for me. I find myself disagreeing with about everyone I have discussed it with.
The significance of the owner and his house in the village is of a great importance. Verse two makes it clear that he has not stopped for the horse's sake. Perhaps the lovely deep and dark woods are a symbol or metaphor? Maybe they represent his thoughts about the house in the village, and it's owner. I speculate that his thoughts are in conflict with his earthly and spiritual promises (Marriage Vows, Creed, etc). Maybe his thoughts are in some way adulterous? ("promises to keep")
The miles to go may be a metaphor for the journey in life he has decided to take, and as a young man, he recognises that such decisions will have to last a lifetime?
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I had to click on this when I saw it as it was my inspiration for a recent contest poem I'd written. This is my favorite of Frost's work. You don't often see chain rhymes with this form, but he did it so well...
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A very good choice to post this poem of Robt. Frost. He'll always top the charts in my book.
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Oh, wow. I had to explicate this poem for my CW class final just about a week ago, and I got an A. =) Coincidence always amazes me.
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Well i have nothing original to say about this peice. Of coarse Frost was amazing, thanks to whoever featured this it's sure to inspire
ZIGGY -
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS POEM! IT WAS THE 1ST POEM I'VE EVER READ IN MY LIFE AND GOT ME STARTED ON POETRY! MY GRANDMOTHER GAVE IT TO ME WHEN I WAS 7! I'M SOOO HAPPIE TO SEE IT HONORED HERE!
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This is my absolute favorite frost poem! Gotta love this one! Always thought the last four lines are a great example of frost's awesome skills... Thanks for posting this! It's been a minute since I last read this one...
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Frost is so wonderful, and this of course, is quite possibly one of my five favorites by him... the overly publicized, yet classic, road not taken is still my all-time favorite, more out of sentiment than quality. thanks for sharing. much love.
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I really enjoy this poem. I have read it so many times to my six year old that I know it by heart. That and The Raven by Poe. This poem always leaves me feeling meloncholy and a little disenchanted. I think it's beautiful.
~Destiny~` -
Very nice! The rhyme scheme is very unique and helps to add to the creativity of the writing. This is a very descriptive piece, and the title reminds me of poems by Robert Frost who was an EXCELLENT poet. Nice work! Keep it up.
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Though I have never seen this listed as a sonnet or even a sonnet variant, I have to wonder if that was what Frost was thinking on writing this, it has a sonnet style with a twin refrain to finish in iambic octometer.
The more I look at this piece, the more poetic skill I can see woven into it, line one alone has its words far more precisely placed than would first appear, with the alliteration of the first two words controling the pace with which the reader will read, closely followed but the change of syntax to give the meter its full force. I feel Frost intoned this poem (intentional or not) with a subtle darker tale. From line two he tell that the owner of the woods he is admiring lives in the village and line three explaines that it is beyond sight, now starts the undertone, having been established that the wood is out of other people's sight and on the darkest night of the year (Winter solstice 21 Dec), even his horse, gives his harness bells a shake as if nervous to create the only sound other than the gentle wind.
I love the way line thirteen has been structured, the pause before the words dark and deep, (out of character with the rest of the poem ) only adds to the strength of these to hard stressed syllables. To which Frost then jumps straight back into the rhythm again with what appears to be an excuse to leave this place. ( Almost as if the poet frightened himself with his words ) and instantly followed by the refraining lines. Reading this out-loud, I can't help but read the last two lines, getting softer and softer with the rhythm of a horse galloping away into the distance.
I've never really read a lot of Frost so I could be well of the mark, but after reading this excellent piece I shall definately read more.
Andrew -
Promises to keep, dreams to fulfill and miles to go before I sleep....for ever...what a beautiful summery of life.
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This poem is my favorite. I'm a fairly big Frost fan, and I think this poem just kicks all his other ones' ass. It's just so calming, so touching, that stopping in the middle of nowhere, watching the woods, as I used to do myself before developers tore down the woods near my house. I just cannot get enough of this poem, and the influence it has on society is still evident today. If you ever saw the movie "Dreamcatcher", which is based on a book by Stephen King, one of the characters recites those final four lines,
"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."
Truly one of the greatest modern poems ever written in my humble opinion. Robert Frost is my favorite. -
ahh!!!! most lovely!! i love woods.. this is very calming.. and again..thanks to ye who sponsered!!!
xxx
scarlet -
i enjoyed reading this one.it makes me think of the place where i grew up.keep on writing beautiful poems.have a nice day!
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to see th words of beauty is to feel the breath of nature. robert frosts work always amazed me and touched my soul...and still does to this very day.
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sleep sleep i wish for sleep but does it visit when sober eyes crawl across my dead face? no. good poem though here o. not read it before.
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Hi,
I feel that this was a great write, very intersting too. Hope to read more from you.
Best of wishes
Blue moon -
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Thats a great poem but Two Woods Diverged in a Yellow Wood is better i think thats the name of it.
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i love this poem. i love the last four lines. it's just wonderful, and soothing, and splendid. thanks to the person who sponsored it <33 always a great read.
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i have always seen the man in the woods as death and the nieghbor he paused at was spared, and it was cause enough for death to wonder at the changes even he had no control over, such as the snow and the horse, but yet he soon moved on for he had many more appointments to keep, and miles to go before he sleeps. Death occasionally sleeps and the world is vibranttly alive in those hours, and bothing dies except the sound of his snores in the bowels of the earth....Artis
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So calming. I'm normally not a big fan of Robert Frost, but his talent does shine through and may it for all eternity. Kudos to whoever sponsored it.
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This is one of my all time favorite poems. I have known this poem by heart since I had to memorize in fifth grade, which was (counts on fingers and toes) thirteen + years ago. Thank you for bringing back the memories of learning this poem at a young age and imagery it always brings to me. Robert Frost is one of the greats. Have a groovy one. Power and blessings to you all. Blessed be!
~BettY~
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mmm. beautiful, it was mystic and drew me in. good discripions. makes you feel like you're there. anyway it was great poem.
later -
The first time I read this I was quite young and just enjoyed the imagery of the snowy forest scene and the impatient horse. But it definitely has a second meaning as contemplating suicide, which in some ways improves and in some ways spoils the poem, for me. I always pay close attention to the last two lines, cause a good poet won't repeat lines unless they are very important, and I think they hold the most meaning in the poem.
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Sometimes I like to hear the beauty of words....
And not pick the words and meaning of it apart.
This is one of those poems. I just enjoy it.
It is lovely. cheryl -
i think this is about a guy who goes into the woods he's ready to die and end it but he has promises to keep and he cannot break them but there might be another meaning i also think that if it wasnt for the horse he probably would have killed himself but the horses sounds bring him back to reality
Edited on Apr 27, 3:07 p.m. because ''. -
inspired
Beautiful. Forget death, life, the future, the past. Think of the moment; the snowing woods, perhaps starlight and it beckons to you, Come hither. It is joy tinged with sadness for you cannot tarry. Compare it with Wordsworth's '..and the music in my heart I bore long after it was heard no more'.
It is about rejuvenation, about the total awareness of the moment. -
Its a wonderful Poem
First time i heard this poem from my best friend in AMU (My University). After that I really gone through the magic of words created by Robert Frost. Now "..miles to before i sleep.." these line are my slogan for life.
I also wish before my death day .. I can make all of my dreams into reality & I know I will.
Sachin (Sache) -
inspiring
This is a awesome poem.The lines "Miles to go before I sleep" are very inspiring and it help us look at the future leaving the past happenings. -
It is a very meaningful and powerful poem for me and my family.
There is a children's storybook written after this poem. In the storybook the reader does not know who the person in the buggy is until the ending... it's Santa, he has many promises to keep and many miles before he sleeps. It is a wonderful storybook for young children. Though my son is on his own now, I once had many promises to keep with my husband and children, and many miles (ground) to cover before I lay my head down to sleep. But now it's my children who are grown that have many promises to keep (to themselves, to their families, loved ones...) and much more miles to cover before the closing of their lives. Soon, I will lay down and sleep forever one day... -
What I find interesting is how you all assume that the narrator is a "him." Now, I'm not trying to be a feminist about this, but where in the poem does it say the speaker is a man? It says the horse and the owner of the woods is a man, but it does not say if the speaker is a man or woman. It is assumed, because Frost wrote the poem, that this is a man. More than likely the speaker is a man, but I just wanted to point that fact out.
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this is an awesome poem, well written, well said. And to have the ability to transform yourself into anothere place and time. Gave me the sense of being on the frontier. Like something right out of Jerimiah Johnson. Maybe I'm on the wrong track here, but that is the feeling i got.
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When I first read this, I think this is about someone who died and is bury in the wood and the traveler just stop by ...is it not? maybe..
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I can see how this may be about death. I love this poem. It's one of my favorites. I just think that when he says "I have miles to go before I sleep" I think that means he has much to do still before he dies. So with that being said I don't think it was quite about suicide. Of course only the author really knew.
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I don't think it's about suicide.
But stopping to live in another sense.
He wishes he could stay there more to enjoy the wonderful forest before he is forced to go back to his town, and the problems that exist there and don't exist here, in the woods.
He takes a short detour on his way home, perhaps, to enjoy a few moments of silence, but his horse reminds him of his earthly obligations... he has promises to keep, and many miles before he sleeps.
Maybe he finds serenity in death, but he doesn't contemplate it, he just accepts the fact that he's alive and has many more miles to go.
I think the first time that line is repeated, it's in a straightforward sense, and he has many miles to go before reaching home.
The second time, however, I think he means he has many more things to do before he can finally enjoy this forest without having to worry about his earthly, mundane problems. -
Timeless&Pri
Words cannot express my appreciationceless for these unforgettabl e lines. -
neutral
is an awesome poem -
don't touch it!
I love the discription of the woods and the evening here. Another one of my favorites. -
excellent
I was also told by my teacher that this poem has to do with death/suicide, but you have to read behind the lines to see this. At line 8 Frost mentions that it is the darkest evening of the year, which leaves the question 'why does he finds it so appealing'. In his sadness and suicidal state of mind he finds the darkness of the woods comforting, it perhaps brings to his mind the dark underworld of the dead. In the last stanza it seems as if he is confirming that he was thinking of suicide, when he says he has many more mile to go before he sleeps;in otherword he has much more to accomplish in this life before he dies(or commoits suicide). The poem is well written,it imigeries and personifications(especially that of the horse)is also nicely put together. Great work! -
neutral
Sad, that the traveler, had to go. :( ~CWM -
I just love Frost.....and a quiet and snowy wood
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i liked it.
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This is nice though abit sad :(
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A teacher once told me that this poem is about contemplating suicide.... I think it's a lovely expression of how someone gets over that feeling......
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I heard this poem was about suicide. I like it either way
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i first read this poem a long time ago--it is still so fresh and beautiful in its simplicity. Robert Frost was a genius with wrords!!!!
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a clear poem, full of wonder, like it. (anonymous, you are a fool, have seen your pathetic comments hanging about round here, why don't you concentrate on getting some sort of life!)
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still one of my absolute favorites
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still one of my absolute favorites
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Beautiful description of another,simpler time when we had the ability still to be close to nature and the time to contemplate
it's wonder.
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