Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Right from the title a reader should wonder why a person stop on a snowy evening. So the title make rather curiosity in a reader. Besides the stressed syllables are Stopping, Woods Snowy Evening and all this words have got a capital letter. This kind of rhythm is called trochaic rhythm. In addition the first word stopping invite the reader to stop to think, understand and consider facts before starting to read. The poem is arranged in four quatrain. An intelligent reader can also notice that the last word of a line of a quatrain is in rhyme with the last of that one.

The first quatrain introduce the setting of the entire poem. Also, it starts with a surprise. As a matter of fact there are the verbs I think I know. Besides there's a sibilance seeming to reproduce the sound of the wind. There' s another sibilance see stopping recalling the silence. So, in the first part of the poem there's a winter setting.

In the second quatrain there's something strange and unusual and there's a superlative that underlines the dark mood of the poem.

In the third quatrain there are a lot of sounds conveying the atmosphere of the place using a sibilance and a consonance.

The last one describe the woods and finishes with a anaphoric repetition that invites to think.

Maybe the poem could be a metaphor of the end of a life because all it's so dark and deep and there's a strange silence. As a matter of fact there's a phrase saying I have promises to keep and miles to go before sleep meaning that it isn't his moment to die because he has a lot of thinks to do.