Considering the title, the reader may be curious to find out its effective meaning. The reader can imagine a landscape characterized by woods in a forest.

The speaker in the poem is traveling at night through the snow and pauses with his horse near the woods by a neighbor's house to watch the snow falling. His horse shakes his harness bells, questioning the pause; perhaps this place isn't on their usual route, or he is curious that there doesn't appear to be a farmhouse nearby. The speaker is standing near the woods, attracted by the deep, dark silence. He has to move further into the snowy woods, but he decides to continue.

"Stopping by Woods" deals with the contemplation of nature. The tone of the poem is calm and serene, but at the same time dark and depressing. It might also suggest a sense of adventure; the speaker wants to explore new things and places, but his responsibilities keep him from going off on dark and dangerous adventures. The stop in the woods could just be the solitude of being alone and free of responsibilities and winter may be associated with death and darkness.