STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING FOR HONOURS FIRST YEAR

STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING

Robert Frost

তুষারঝরা সন্ধ্যায় একটি বনের পাশে

-------- রবার্ট ফ্রস্ট

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.

এই বনটা কার তা আমি জানি বলে মনে হয়

যদিও তার বাড়ি গ্রামে

সে দেখতে পাবে না যে আমি এখানে

তার বন তুষারপাতে ভরে যেতে দেখার জন্য থেমেছি ।

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.

আমার ছোট্ট ঘোড়াটি নিশ্চয়ই অদ্ভুত বলে ভাবছে

আশেপাশে কোন খামার ছাড়া আমার এই থামাকে

বন আর জমাট রোদের মাঝে

বছরের সবচেয়ে অন্ধকারময় সন্ধ্যায়।

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.

সে তার গলায় বাধা ঘন্টা টিকে ঝাঁকুনি দেয়

কোন ভুল হচ্ছে কিনা তা জানতে

অন্য আর একটি শব্দ দ্রুত বয়ে চলা

বাতাস আর পতনশীল তুষারের।

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.

মনোরম অরণ্য অন্ধকারে গভীর

কিন্তু আমার আছে অনেক প্রতিশ্রুতি

বহুদূর যেতে হবে ঘুমানোর আগে

বহুদূর যেতে হবে ঘুমানোর আগে।

10. Summarize the poem.

11. What conflict of human heart is reflected in this poem?

12. What does the horse represent in this poem?

13. Scan the poem.

14. How does the poet describe a snowy evening?

15. What rhyme-scheme has been used in the poem? How far has the rhyme-scheme matched the theme of the poem?

16. Comment on the author’s position and the tone of the poem.

17. What are the most important figures of speech in the poem? What do the wood, the darkness, the promises signify?

Answer to the Question No. 10

The poem opens dramatically. The speaker is found standing beside the woods. It seems to him that he knows who is their owner. The house of the owner is beyond his vision. The quietness marks the scene. It is snowing heavily. The owner of the house will not watch the speaker. The speaker is watching his woods that are filled up with snow. Then he introduces a foil. The horse here stands for rustic commonsense. The horse wonders why the man stops here by the jungle. There is no farmhouse near between the woods and the frozen lake. It is the darkest evening of the year. The horse shakes his harness bells. He seems to ask if there is anything wrong. There is no other sound except the soft snow falling on the trees. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. They seem to invite the speaker. But he has to make a long journey of life before he sleeps. He must do his duty before his death.

Answer to the Question No. 11

The speaker of the poem is the poet himself. He is the representative of all human beings. The entire poem represents human dilemma. In this poem, we see that the speaker shows romantic and realistic attitudes to life. His mind is oscillating between his romantic self and realistic self. So this poem reflects the conflict between romance and reality. Everyman faces this sort of conflict in his heart.

The poem reflects an endless conflict in human heart. Here we find that a traveller and his horse suddenly stop by a lonely snow- covered forest. They are attracted by its charm and solitude. The travel image is the most common image. It suggests journey towards life. The peculiar attraction for the woods in the mysterious deadly atmosphere suggests the speaker’s death-wish. The fact becomes clearer later on. He remembers that he has to travel miles before he sleeps. Because he has promises to keep. In this respect, we know that the promises become the commitment to life. Again the distance becoems the distance in time space. The sleep turns to be the final sleep meaning death. Now the speaker in the poem is torn between two conflicting emotions. He is agonised by the beauty of the snowfall arid the solitude of the wood. An equally strong sense of responsibility calls him for duties.

Thus the speaker suffers from a conflict in his heart. His contradiction ends in a determination to march onward in the path of life. His conflict is the conflict of human heart.

Answer to the Question No. 12

In this poem, we see that the speaker of the poem stops in a solitary place. But the horse does not understand why the speaker stops in a lonely place. For this reason, the little horse shakes his harness bell to remind that whether it will be right or wrong to stop in such a lonely place. This fact indicates that he possesses common sense. So obviously the horse represents rationality in this poem.

The horse in the poem plays a significant role. It has a symbolic significance. It functions as a foil in the most dramatic manner. A foil is a character that plays in contrast against a more important character. It offers an opposite point of view for the important character providing a contrasting set of motives. The foil makes the important character react in a manner which might never have been expressed otherwise. In this poem, the horse is a foil. The character of rider is revealed more fully both to himself and to the reader. The horse here also stands for rustic common sense. It is without any feelings, emotions and provocations of nature. It sets us thinking as to why the rider stopped there in the midst of the jungle. The jungle has no essential things required for a stay in a dark and cold evening.

Thus the speaker in the poem thinks that the horse wants to know the reason of stopping there. He expresses his latent death- wish and a desire for self-annihilation in order to taste death. Therefore, the horse is symbolically significant as it represents the rustic commonsense.

Answer to the Question No. 13

The poem is a beautiful dramatic lyric written in iambic tetrameter without any variation.

Answer to the Question No. 14

On his way back, the speaker stands by the woods. The scene and means employed to portray it are able to call our attention. Across the road from the woods that the speaker is passing through, there is a frozen lake. Houses are beyond the vision of the speaker and the quietness marks the scene. It is snowing heavily and the speaker can hear the soft and almost inaudible sound made by wind and the soft snow-flakes falling on the trees.

There is no definite answer why the speaker of the poem stops beside the woods. But he is definitely moved by the beauty of the scene. Of course, Frost does not make any explicit comments on it. He does not imply that the scene is beautiful or he is moved by it. His evasion of these elaborate, explicit, exquisite feelings illustrates two principles of any good works-reticence and understatement. The dark woods symbolize the dark, impenetrable, unfathomable mystery of life. Snow as usual symbolizes the cold destructive force called death. It is as though the speaker was literally caught in the woods on a snowy evening. On another level, he is caught in a moment of time arresting all his power to find an answer to the mystery of life. The only faithful answer is Death. Death is an absolute power. Man has a strange fascination and an inexplicable horror at the same time for it. It is the ultimate reality as to philosophers and thinkers of all time consider.

Answer to the Question No. 15

The poem is written in the form of an interior monologue. It consists of four stanzas. Each stanza has four lines with the rhyme scheme of aaba bbcb ccdc dddd. The first stanza introduces a setting, the second and third stanza focus on the conflict by a foil. The final stanza philosophizes the entire scene. This thematic organization is also unified by the careful choice of rhyme scheme of the poem. This rhyme scheme is spontaneous and it stabilizes the poem.

The careful rhyme scheme, the combination of regular rhythms and rhymes produces a pleasant hypnotic effect. This hypnotic impression intensifies as the poem moves forward. Thus the poet impresses the reader with a deep philosophical view and mystery about life and death with this rhyme scheme. The ideas sound and resound in the mind of the readers as they finish reading the poem. So the thyme scheme of this poem is very effective and organized. Any modification will seriously weaken its final effect.

The poem sounds like a simple description of a horse rider who casually feels the desire to stop at the middle of his journey. At last, the reader becomes aware that the poem deals with a serious psychological problem of every man. He is able to unfold and realize the underlying theme.

Answer to the Question No. 16

After going through the poem, we understand that the speaker of the poem is the poet himself. The poet uses first person narrative technique which makes the poem personal. So we can say that the mood of the poem is subjective. The overall tone of the poem is serious and philosophical because the poem philosophically reflects the conflict of human heart which every person feels.

The poem is an interior monologue. The speaker of the poem uses the pronoun ‘I’. So he may misleadingly be associated with the own voice of the poet. Thus the poet has been successful in separating himself from his poem. The poem is objective as the poet surpasses his personal feelings. The conflict of emotions and a determination to go onward reflect a universal drama of human life. Thus it retains its objectivity. The poem begins in a conversational personal tone. But the overall tone of the poem is serious and philosophical. The poet has used the first person narrative. He has made the poem personal. This personal tone adds personal sympathy by using the colloquial tone and dramatic beginning. However, as the poem proceeds, the mysterious wood and the death like environment add one kind of objectivity to the tone of the poem. It is gradually created by a series of simple but symbolic metaphors.

Thus the poem moves from a conversational personal tone to an impersonal philosophical tone. Objectivity is created at last.

Answer to the Question No. 17

The poet in this poem has used a very few figures of speech. He has employed few beautiful metaphors with a symbolic dimension. All the symbols used here are very simple images taken from rural life. Horse, woods, darkness, freezing coldness, promises, distance and sleep are all very familiar metaphors used here as symbols.

The poem deals with the conflicting feelings inherent in every human heart. The speaker riding a horse to a definite destination stops near a forest. He feels like staying there though there is no safe shelter nearby. If he stays there, the owner of the forest will not know it. Because he lives in a far off village. The rider is sure of the fact. The darkest evening and the freezing coldness symbolize death. The speaker’s momentary attraction for the solitude of the forest symbolizes his death-wish. But he remembers his promises that he has to keep. He draws back from the attraction of the woods. His promises stand for the responsibilities of a meaningful life. He is obliged to travel a long distance of several miles before he sleeps. Thus woods, darkness and promises signify an ideal romantic place. mystery and responsibilities.

Questions

(a) What season does the poet refer to here?

(b) Where does the poet stop?

(d) What idea of the poet do you gather from his stopping there?

(e) What does the horse think queer?

(f) Why does the horse think so?

(g) How does the horse react to the situation?

(h) What sounds can the poet hear there?

Answer:

(a) Winter.

(b) Between the woods and frozen lake.

(d) The poet loves to enjoy the beauties of nature.

(e) The horse thinks that it is queer on the part of his master to stop in an uninhabited place, between the woods and frozen lake instead by a farmhouse.

(f) The horse thinks it queer because in this uninhabited place in a dark and snowy evening they cannot get food, rest or anyone’s company.

(g) The horse, thinking that his master has made a mistake, gives his harness bells a shake.

(h) The sound of the harness bells, the gentle breeze, the falling snow flakes.