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“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.” (Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, Lines 15-16) The traveler in this poem enters into a remote area where the weather is soothing, the scenery is bewitching, making him want to stay for a while.
As can be seen (and as is pointed out by English literature teachers), the presence of the comma makes a significant change in the meaning of the line: "the woods are lovely because they are dark and deep" becomes "the woods are lovely, and dark, and deep".
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. Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem.
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.
The poet mildly indicates the presence of a human close by, albeit in-doors, oblivious to the passerby. The woods, for the narrators, are immensely thick and dark and stand in all their glory. More so, the poet paints an image etched in natural beauty, drawing deep sensory emotions from the reader.
Dec 5, 2019 · “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” is a weird echo of Beddoes’ poem, “The Phantom Wooer:” Young soul, put off your flesh, and come With me into the quiet tomb, Our bed is lovely, dark, and sweet; The earth will swing us, as she goes, Beneath our coverlid of snows, And the warm leaden sheet.
Jan 31, 2024 · 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. The speaker, in the final stanza, states that the woods that snowy evening are indeed beautiful. It is unlike anything else.
The speaker of Frost’s poem clearly enjoys the tranquility of the winter landscape. However, they also feel lured by the symbolic resonance of the woods, whose “dark and deep” (line 13) nature marks them as a symbolic space associated with getting lost, disappearing, and even dying.
Despite how “lovely” and “deep” the woods are, especially on this “darkest evening of the year,” the speaker is conscious of his obligations, or “promises” that he needs to keep.
Frost’s description of the woods as “lovely, dark and deep,” as well as the many miles left to travel, suggests that the speaker’s journey may represent life itself—while the woods, in their darkness and silence, represent death.
