Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

‘Stopping by woods on a snowy evening’ is one of the most celebrated poems of Robert Frost. The first prime minister of independent India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was so much impressed with the message of this poem that he always kept this poem on the table beneath the glass.  The poem is simple but the message which it conveys is significant. The poem is about poet to the forest, getting tempted to stay there and finally realizing that he has many works to be done by him and so he cannot step in the forest. It is a poem about the internal dilemma of a poet between love for beauty and sense of beauty. This kind of dilemma is witnessed by every person at some stage in life. We all are sometimes tempted by beauty of the nature to stop there for a longtime but the work which is to be done by us reminds us of our duty and we do not stop for a long time. Where that beautiful place is, this truth of life is conveyed by the poet through present poem.

The subject matter of the poem is simple. The port goes to a dark deep lovely forest on his horseback. It is such a beautiful place that the poet is tempted to stop there and pass that night in the forest but the horse of the poet shakes it’s head to ring thr bells which are tied to it‘s harness.  The horse wants to ask the poet whether he is mistaken in making a stay in that forest. The reason it is the darkest evening. The lake is frozen and the snowfall is there, such a gesture of his horse reminds the poet that the woods are lovely dark and deep but he has s many promises to keep. He has to perfume many duties before he sleeps in the forest and before he dies. The final message of the poem is that sense of duty in life is more important than tempting beauty. No tempting should ever prove to a hindrance on the path of duty.