Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost - Essay Example

The speaker in this poem intended to bring out various messages. This poem highlights three main messages; decision-making in life, Isolation in society, and nature being beautiful and attractive. The speaker in this poem shows that one cannot avoid decision-making in life. While he is traveling, he stops between the woods and a frozen lake. The beautiful and alluring woods are the reason he stops, he stares at them for a while before his little horse shakes the bell of its harness to ask for any mistakes. The speaker realizes that he has to make a decision on whether he should remain in the attractive woods or continue with his journey probably to the village, where he has promises that he needs to fulfill.

            The speaker has to choose between two worlds. The woods are attractive and seem to offer the speaker perfect quiet and solitude, which he seems to desire. On the other side, there is a different world from the woods, a world with people and societal obligations. Both sides interest the speaker in different ways but he has to decide which side is the best for him. The world with people however seems more important to the speaker since he decides to leave the woods and continue with his journey.

            In the poem “stopping by woods on a snowy evening”, the speaker has to choose between his self-desires and society desires. It seems that it is unusual for him to stop for a while and enjoy himself, for instance stopping to admire the beauty of the woods. His duties and responsibilities to society do not allow some time for him. He however stops for a while to stare at the lovely woods. His little horse shakes the bell of its harness to alert him that it is unusual to stop in the woods. He decides to continue with his journey where he has duties and responsibilities to fulfill for society. This implies that he values his commitments to society more than his own desires.

            This poem is contrasted two different worlds, “the woods” and “the village” which represent nature and society respectively. The speaker shows his isolation since he chooses the society where he has responsibilities over the nature that he seems to desire. This poem shows the importance of decision-making in life since each side chosen will affect one's life.