Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

[billy]

jack posted this poem in the poem of the day section;
even though i posted it here it isn't a poetry related question.
the question is:

What does your snowy wood represent. what does it do for you and why would you be there, could it call you enough to forget everything else, are will you also carry on your journey to where others think you should be.
mine is and was a happy place that i eventually stayed in. you can interpret the poem anyway you want but the woods will always be the woods. what were your woods like.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

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.

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.

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.

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.

[heslopian]

For me the woods are filled with risk and opportunity. When I read the poem I imagine that the narrator is tempted to ride recklessly into them, getting lost in its depths. The fact that it's evening is very important. There wouldn't be any mystery or danger during the day. I think of the woods as a place I'd like to study if I were the narrator, and feel a pleasant shiver down my spine.

[srijantje]

actually woods are much more dangerous by day than night,things can see you,at night they can't,as long as you don't snore[ignore this]

[Wildcard]

Anyway I see the woods as opportunity. A snowy evening could easily spell death to the unprepared or joy to the fulfilled. That's what life is to me- an opportunity.

[billy]

I am with the horse on this one...get me the hell out of the cold and into somewhere warm.

you're woods could be something warm, an old blanket or the beach.

i'm sure the woods represent a point in his life, perhaps a choice. another woman etc.

[popeye]

If we were able to hear Frost recite the poem the timbre in his voice would perhaps give us a clearer idea of the woods he was referring to ( sorry, just couldn't help myself ) cheers all have a great day.

[billy]

Anyway I see the woods as opportunity. A snowy evening could easily spell death to the unprepared or joy to the fulfilled. That's what life is to me- an opportunity.

could be. stopping by an opportunity on a snowing evening. maybe that's what he was talking about. has anyone ever grabbed their opportunity? maybe that's the woody question. i like to think in an odd moment of egotism i did
i left to move to the philippines with all most nothing. it was my opportunity and i took it/stayed in the woods. seeing so many people living lives they didn't enjoy spurred me on i suppose, seeing them pass through their own woods without stopping, everyday.

[grannyjill]

And there was me thinking it was a poem about a man stopping by the woods on a snowy evening (only partially joking!) I see some one who is enraptured by nature and solitude but who knows he must leave and fulfill his role within society. I never tire of reading this.The atmosphere is absolutely spot on, the imagery sublime and the final lines raise this to greatness.

[Leanne]

Oh, it's a book for me. Taking time out -- that I can ill afford -- to wrap myself, if only for a few moments, in another world. The rules are different there and until I explore, I have no idea what those rules might be.

And yet no matter how I might wish otherwise, I have responsibilities that call me back to reality -- miles to go before I sleep.

[billy]

that's understandable, my kids were well grown up when i decided to stay in the woods. i'm at my ex's now my eldest daughter is also there. and it like a reverse woods. this is the one i like to pass through and stop in for just a while before moving on home to addy and her mum. still the woods where or whatever they maybe i think are a sanctuary of sorts. a holding point for things to come. i like the book being your wood leanne, as a child books were my woods, i lived through them before having to return to the real world.

do you have a personal woods granny? somewhere you could willingly get lost in given half a chance?

[srijantje]

i have woods,see photo

[billy]

damn you sj you old bastard. they're beautiful woods.
no wonder you're smiling.

[srijantje]

oops ,i might have gone over the top with the size of them,but the woods tend to grow on you

[popeye]

Certainly a cause for celebration sj, what a peak performance........

[billy]

don't worry, size doesn't matter or so they tell me

i removed the picture resizer because it was a memory hog. no worries about the pic though, it's a cracker.

out of curiosity, what's written on the paper stuck between the rocks, have you been writing poetry to the peaks?

[srijantje]

they're tibetan prayer flags with mantras written on them[om mani padme hum]

the mountain "under my hat" is everest

[billy]

isn't that what they one hand clap to?
have you vere been to the summit?

[srijantje]

no,no,i don't climb mountains,never wanted to,now if there was a pass
over it......walking around is my hobby

the foto was made on 5,500mts,high enough

[billy]

just about high enough hehe.
i think one of the most underated ribe on earth were the old sherpa. they must have had lungs of steel.
about stopping in the woods; recently i came to realise that there are no woods. only paths to walk along. paths that take you through or over or around. thankfully most of mine have been varied and happy ones so far.

[grannyjill]

that's understandable, my kids were well grown up when i decided to stay in the woods. i'm at my ex's now my eldest daughter is also there. and it like a reverse woods. this is the one i like to pass through and stop in for just a while before moving on home to addy and her mum. still the woods where or whatever they maybe i think are a sanctuary of sorts. a holding point for things to come. i like the book being your wood leanne, as a child books were my woods, i lived through them before having to return to the real world.

do you have a personal woods granny? somewhere you could willingly get lost in given half a chance?

Sorry billy didn't see this question until now. I have thought about this, and my woods definitely were books...I lived in those 'woods' all my early years, as they were my teachers, my companions, my therapists, my sanctuary in times of trouble and being hauled out of them used to be traumatic. To-day - well, I don't need the woods any more. I love being me, doing what I'm doing and I rarely read now apart from the odd book of poetry, and reference books.