Subjects:
The first line of the stanza of the poem is stating that the poet is aware that the woods by which he is stopping belong to somebody else. He feels that at the same time the woods belong to him because he is the one enjoying the site of watching the beauty of nature. For example if I go to a park, I know the park belongs to the government but by watching such a beautiful landscape I'm going to feel the park also belongs to me because it's a place where anybody could feel free. The second stanza the horse feels that the narrator has mistakenly stopped in the middle of nowhere, but this is where the narrator really wants to be. He wants to be in a silent place where he cannot be bothered. The third stanza, the horse symbolizes his conscious, because
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The poem could be a metaphor for decision.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
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. Decision on what appears to be simple is shown to be not that simple. At the end of the poem the lines "Woods are lovely" and "Promises to keep" do not solve the conflict because neither the narrator nor his horse have moved from the scene to make a decision.
The theme of the poem is the conflict between reality and fantasy.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The speaker is narrated by fist person. In the first stanza he is expressing his interior feelings of the place where he has stopped. The woods are lonely and deep/ What appears to be innocent is not really innocent. In the last stanza, The woods are lovely, dark, and deep/ is his observation of the woods and then he gives an interior feeling of what he must decide. The description of desolate woods "As lovely" and "The promises to keep" complicates rather than alleviates his decision.
Essay's Topics
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