A Stylistic Analysis on Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

【Abstract】Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening， written by Robert Lee Frost， is known for its neat rhyme and meaningful images. The author endowed images as woods， snow and darkest evening with different meanings. This essay intends to analyze the stylistic features of this poem from phonological， lexical， textual and deviation level.

【Key words】Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening； stylistic analysisA

【作者簡介】王敏潔（1993.6- ），女，山東臨沂人，中央民族大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院在讀研究生，翻譯理論與實(shí)踐方向。

Introduction

Robert Lee Frost， an American poet who was prominent for his realistic descriptions of rural life and skillful command of colloquial speech of American English in the twentieth century. His work largely employed settings from New England’s rural life， which helped him to examine the complex philosophical and social themes. The U.S. government awarded him a gold medal in 1960 for his contribution to American culture. To tell the truth， Robert Lee Frost’s outstanding poetic career was at the expense of his miserable life experience： the death of his father， wife and daughter split his life into pieces and also endowed his poem with endless sorrow and desperation by adopting the images related to loneliness and death.

Frost wrote this winter poem in June， 1922 at his house in Shaftsbury， Vermont. Frost had stayed up the entire night writing the long poem New Hampshire and had finally finished it when he realized the next morning had come. Then he went out to see the sunrise and suddenly got the idea for this poem. He wrote the new sentence about the snowy evening and the little horse as if I’d had a hallucination in just a few minutes without strain.

Language Features of the Poem

Leech thinks that stylistic is “a research of language application in literature” and “the intersection of linguistics and literature research” （Leech， 1969）. In order to facilitate analysis， the poem is presented as follows.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know，[ou]

His house is in the village though. [ou]

He will not see me stopping here， [i]

To watch his woods fill up with snow. [ou]

My little horse must think it queer， [i]

To stop without a farmhouse near， [i]

Between the woods and frozen lake，[ei]

The darkest evening of the year. [i]

He gives his harness bells a shake， [ei]

To ask if there is some mistake. [ei]

The only other sound’s the sweep， [i：]

Of easy wind and downy flake. [ei]

The woods are lovely， dark and deep. [i：]

But I have promise to keep， [i：]

And miles to go before I sleep. [i：]

And miles to go before I sleep. [i：]

Stylistic study on the phonological level

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is written in iambic tetrameter. Iambic means that a pattern alternating stressed and unstressed syllables beginning with an unstressed syllable and tetrameter means there are four feet in the line. Iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambi. The poem follows a rhyming scheme of AABA， BBCB， CCDC， DDDD. Each stanza begins and ends with the rhyme of the third line in the former stanza and the last stanza follows a DDDD rhyme scheme. The scheme of the first three stanzas shows the repeating life awfully bores the poet whereas in the last one he substitutes DDDD for DDED intentionally， showing the poet desires to break up with the life before and start a brand-new one. Moreover， alliteration is used in the poem like “watch-woods-with”； assonance like “his-fill” and consonance like “whose-woods-these”. The easy and catchy sound pattern endows the poem with a fresh and neat style.

Stylistic study on the lexical level

Colloquialism is a significant feature in Frost’s poem. He is renowned for his skillful command of colloquial speech of American English. Frost hardly uses learned words and polysyllabic words in his work. In this poem， almost all the words are monosyllabic words and two-syllable words such as snow， lake， go， etc. No exaggeration or fancy words， the poet just describes what he sees and feels when facing up with the beautiful woods. During the whole description， “frozen lake” and “easy wind” are to imply the cold and silent forest. “Easy” is to modify abstract things but here to obtain its nonce meaning： gentle. Composed of simple words， the poem is more like a casual conversation between the reader and the poet.

Stylistic study on textual level

The last two lines uses reiteration. The first line “And miles to go before I sleep” contains a literal meaning—“I still have a long way to go before I sleep”. But the following same line is a simile and “sleep” here means death： I still have a lot of things to do before I die. The fundamental conflict in this poem is in the last stanza： the attraction of the woods and the fact of leaving. Dreamy as the woods， the poet is allured by “l(fā)ovely， dark and deep” woods in his imagination. However， he has to take the responsibility before sleeping forever. The repetition gives the reader a heavy mood， resonating the feeling of the hard life. Thus， the conflict between real life and dream induces endless meditation among people. “And miles to go before I sleep” is a wise decision I make in life journey， and the repetition shows my determination to move forward.

Stylistic study on deviation

Phonological juxtaposition

Before the twentieth century， the usage of rhyme distinguishes a poem from a prose. However， free verse substitutes rhyme gradually in the time of Frost. Frost still pursues a strict rhyming scheme， which is a departure from the main stream of poetry. A general scheme is ABAB or ABBA， but Frost follows a rhyming scheme AABA， BBCB， CCDC， DDDD： the rhyme of the third line becomes the rhyme of the first line in next stanza. The chain rhyme produces a pleasant feeling and pushes the poem forward.

2.4.2 Lexical deviation

Generally speaking， poetic language is elite and learned. However， in this poem， Frost uses plain and simple nouns like woods， house， snow as well as simple verbs like ordinary， think， know， see etc. Thus， Frost deviates the way a poem used to be and encloses the truth of simple life.

Sentence deviation

The beginning of the poem is an inverted sentence. The object clause “whose woods these are” is put before the subject “I think I know”， emphasizing the significance of the image “woods”. In the fourth stanza， “I have promise to keep” is the deviation of “I have to keep promise”. It foregrounds the action of “keep the promise”， persuading people to take their responsibility.

Conclusion

From the phonological， lexical， textual and deviation level， a stylistic analysis of Robert Frost’s famous poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is conducted. It illustrated that this method of text analysis will help us comprehend literary works on an objective basis.

Frost once said that， a poem should “begin with happiness and end with wisdom”. The poet adds his own understanding of society， nature and life in poetry forms so that those plain words are valuable and meaningful. His organization of sounds and deviation has profound meaning to poem writing， which gives good example of how to make simplest pieces into meaningful poems.

References：

[1]Leech G.A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry[M].London： Longman，1969.

[2]Lawrance Thompson.Selected Letters of Robert Frost[M].New York and Chicago：Holt，Rinehart and Winston，1964.