Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies ISSN: 2321-8819 (Online) 2348-7186 (Print) Impact Factor: 1.498 Vol.4, Issue 11, October 2016 Biographical Analysis of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” Kurt Salac Candilas Faculty, Arts and Sciences Program Lourdes College, Philippines Abstract: Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” like any other poems is a multidimensional literary work that any readers can draw their own interpretation of meaning depending upon their level of comprehension of the written text. Several studies and analyses were already conducted in identifying the meaning of this poem and that too much effort was already being given by Frost’s critics in interpreting the poem in the context of the poet’s symbolic terrain in general; however, such tensions and oppositions of making meaning of the poem are akin to have an interpretation of poem’s theme as a mere appreciation of nature and impression of death. Thus, this paper tries to explore other symbolic interpretation and that it argues that this poem reveals the poet’s downfalls and his worth emulating fatherly and husbandry character via biographical literary theory. Keywords: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, downfalls, fatherly, husbandry conflict is represented between obligations and Introduction responsibilities in life and imperturbability of death Robert Frost was one of the many as Tyagi (21), Khan, Raffique, Saddique (122) and prominent American poets of his time. He was Zhang (46) stress in agreement. However, this generally regarded as a nature and pastoral poet as paper argues that this poem is a reflection of reflected in his works. Frost’s works in poetry Frost’s personality, attitude, and downfalls of life. ideally reflect the overwhelming presence and Thus, the overriding aim of this paper is to prodigious impression of nature. He believes that analyze Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods the encounter of man with the presence of nature in a Snowy Evening” via biographical theory. leads to self-growth and knowledge. Hence, throughout his works in poetry, the persona in most Framework of his poems would always or most of the time learns about himself with the manifestation of This analysis argues that Robert Frost’s nature. However, the thematic element of nature in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is a his works is seen to be ironic to the human world; manifestation of his personality, attitude, and man learns from the nature because nature allows downfalls. him to learn, and because nature allows man to This argument is supported by the acquire a deeper understanding of human biographical literary theory which West (2011) condition, nature could not provide answers to his asserts as a critical approach that uses the events of questions. an author’s life to explain meaning in the author’s Frost uses nature as a background to work. Also known as Historical criticism, this reveal his concept of the human relationship to emphasizes the relation between a written work and nature. For instance, he ventured at the contrast the biographical experience of the writer. It insisted between the persona’s capacities to connect with that to understand a literary piece, we need to others be it with other individual, an animal and his understand the author's life, ideas circulating at the experience of isolation. In some of his works in time, and the sociocultural milieu as Benson (110) poetry, the persona wanders through a natural and Ellis (971) concord. setting and encounters others; these encounters The above theory offers the avenue for the usually culminate a moment of revelation where researcher to critically analyze and examine the the speaker of the poem has come into a profound poem’s deeper meaning in light of the overarching realizations of himself so as to have a good assumption of the study that the “Stopping by introspection and ultimately discover a firm Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost has a connection to the world around. clear-cut manifestation of his life, specifically, One of the major poetry works of Frost targeting his husbandry and fatherly qualities, and that touted the above proposition is his poem the downfalls he has gone through with his life. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. This Figure 1 shows the study’s schema poem is the most popular among his collections as reflecting the interrelationship among the it shows the most revealing mirror of man’s variables: the “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy personality expressed in verses. More to that, the Evening” as the independent variable and Frost’s universal appeal of Frost in this poem shows how Available online at www.ajms.co.in 181 Biographical Analysis of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” husbandry and fatherly qualities, and downfalls as the dependent variables. Figure 1.Schematic Diagram Objective of the Study This study tries to determine the textualities of the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” as a manifestation of Robert Frost’s biography. Methods The study uses a qualitative research design. A qualitative research is primarily an exploratory research. It is essentially used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons and opinions. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential analysis. Specifically, the type of qualitative research that is used in this study is the discourse analysis. A discourse analysis is a general term for a number of approaches to analyze a written text, or any significant semiotic event. In this study, the researcher examines the written text as an exhibition of the poet’s life. Analysis The poem “Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening” is a multi-meaning literary genre that every reader can draw their own interpretation according to his own literary taste, comprehension, culture, and background knowledge of the poem. Though it is very difficult to know the exact context and factors that affect the thoughts of the poet from the time that he wrote this poem; however, in this paper, the researcher tries to explore the true meaning and various possible meanings given in the poem using the biographical literary theory. Robert was born in San Francisco and was taken to the New England farm country at the age of ten. It was in this place where his works in poetry became known. After a brief attendance at Dartmouth where Frost disliked the academic attitude, he became a farmer in a Massachusetts mill. A short period after his studies at Harvard was followed by further works and responsibilities like being a husband and a father, making shoes, editing a country newspaper, teaching at school, farming, and the like. This background of craftsmanship and husbandry had its effect upon Frost’s subjects to his poetry, and that he demanded that his verse be as simple and honest as an axe and hoe. This is also why his poem “Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening” is inspired by the nature, and the time where he spent as a poultry farmer in New Hampshire. During his adulthood in New England, he spent most of his time in an urban environment. This is possibly because his late exposure in the rural side of New England hooked him so much with the natural world, (cited in Vincent, 3). In the poem, Frost uses a verse to tell his love, appreciation, and respect to nature. In the first and second quatrain, the speaker of the poem prefers to watch the snow falling in the woods even with his horse’s exasperation. Here, the speaker is doubting to his horse, because he himself stunningly believes that it is too weird to stop one’s horse for no reason in the middle of nowhere and just watching the snow falling in the midst of the dark. Moreover, Frost does suggest that the speaker is attracted to the woods because the environment is in complete silence where, ironically, he is able to enjoy his moment of isolation and contemplation. “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.” Taking into account Frost’s life, when he moved to a rented farm near Methuen, Massachusetts, and began raising poultry; a tragedy struck in 1900 when his three-year-old child died. Because of this, Frost bought a farm in Derry and settled there to farm, read, write, and raise a family. Also, the financial and emotional pressures of having a wife, infant, and another child on the way while studying were one of his responsibilities that made him imprisoned. With this in mind, conceivably, the first and second quatrain of the poem might be of Frost’s escape to sadness and responsibility. Like the woods which usually stand for desolation, darkness, and irrationality, Frost was into a wide-ranging desolation when his first child died, and lost another child in infancy in 1907. The loss of his children considers this desolation as part of the darkest story of his life which can be reflected in the poem’s line “Between the woods and frozen lake, the darkest evening of the year”. Here, the “woods” might be of Frost representation of sadness and weakness while the “frozen lake” might be a symbolism of his loss children. These tragic events of his life are one of his agonies which he would likely to fall in combat. Moreover, Frost’s sadness and loss tells his readers about his depression asking and questioning himself why such things happened. This likely indicates the poet’s personal or selfreflection on what he did or selected in the past and Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(11) October, 2016 182 Biographical Analysis of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” on what has resulted in. Possibly, the lines “He gives his harness bells a shake, to ask if there is some mistake” might be of Frost’s cogitation why his children were taken away from him at the very early stage of their lives or might be attributed in his schooling from kindergartner to pursuing college as he had only finishes one semester in Dartmouth and three semesters in Harvard. Also, his lack of success in the American poetry world in 1912 might be one of his questions in mind while contemplating. On the other hand, the lines “The only other sound’s the sweep, Of easy wind and downy flake.” represent Frost’s deeper understanding of human condition that man’s life is unpredictable and is always been full of failures along the way. However, as the speaker of the poem continues to contemplate, he realizes that these failures are not constant as these are slowly fading as life continues its journey. “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 fourth quatrain of the poem may possibly infer of Frost’s remaining responsibility. As such, a father’s responsibility towards his children. In the first and second lines of the last quatrain it states that “Woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep”. These lines create a plethora of Frost’s character as a father to his children and as a husband to his wife. The “Woods” symbolizes the poet’s decision of his life whether he is going to continue his life amidst all his frustrations and depressions or he might as well contemplate on a suicide after all the defeats that he has gambled in his life. However, since Frost has promises to his children and wife, all the while, he kept these promises. “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.” Further, these lines dramatically reveal that his promises will endure until the end of his journey in life. The repetition of the poem’s last two lines contributes the idea of Frost’s love towards his wife and his children and that only death can separate his obligation and responsibility as a father. Conclusion The poem “Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening” truly reveals Frost’s life story that remarkably highlights his life’s frustrations and downfalls as reflected in the speaker’s choose of moment of solitude and isolation as he ventured in rediscovering himself by observing and meditating the scenic beauty of nature. However, the poem has not only reveals Frost’s defeats but also his worth emulating character of being a responsible father to his children and a husband to his wife. To some, the poem may connote the speaker’s mere appreciation of the natural world and contemplation of death, however, it is true that there is always a room for improvement, and it is possible that some aspect of this poem may be remained unfolded. Works Cited: Book: Benson, Jack. Steinbeck: A Defense of Biographical Criticism. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989 Journals: Ellis, Frank H. "Gray's Elegy: The Biographical Problem in Literary Criticism." JSTOR. JSTOR. Web. 15. 2016. Faggen, Robert. "Robert Frost and the Challenge of Darwin." The University of Michigan, 1997. Khan, Abdul Bari, Raffique Summara, & Saddique, Ghazala. Stylistic Analysis of the poem “ONSET” by Robert Frost. International Journal of Academic Research and Reflection. Vol. 2, No. 4, 2014 Tyagi, Ankit. An Analysis of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 4, 2015 Vincent, Caitlin. "The Poetry of Robert Frost", GradeSaver LCC, 2009 Zhang, Songling. The Psychological Journey of “I” in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Asian Social Science. Vol. 6, No. 1, 2010 Electronic Source: West, Benjamin. The Angles of Literary Approach. blogs.dickinson.edu/anglesofliteraryapproach/author/westbe/ Retrieved July 22, 2016 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(11) October, 2016 183