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Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
By: Robert Frost
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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.

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Robert Lee Frost
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Born: March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California, USA
Died: January 29, 1963 (age 88) in Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Robert Frost was an American Poet. Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England, in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

“Robert Frost.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, 2 Feb. 2017, www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/robert-frost.

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First Stanza: The traveler thinks he knows whose woods he has stopped in, he knows he lives in the village, so he will not see him stopping, while its snowing.

Second Stanza:  The little horse (maybe pony) thinks it's strange that they are stopping without a farmhouse (The location is remote) they stopped between the woods and a frozen lake. It is the darkest evening of the year.

Third Stanza:  The horse shakes his harness bells to alert his rider that he thinks it's weird that they stopped here. There is little to no sound other than that. A light breeze and snowflakes falling.

Fourth Stanza: The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but the traveler has responsibilities, obligations, and has to travel a long way to get back

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The Sounds of Words
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Alliteration: His house is in the village though (line 2)
He will not see me stopping here (line 3)
To watch his woods fill up with snow (line 4)
He gives his harness bells a shake (line 9)

Assonance: "And miles to go before I sleep"

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Arranging the Words
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Rhyme Scheme:

First stanza, aaba
Second stanza, bbcb
Third stanza, ccdc
Fourth stanza, dddd

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First Stanza: The traveler appears worried that he is committing an offense by looking upon woods owned by another man. Nevertheless, he steals a look, for the other man "will not see me stopping here."

Second Stanza: This stanza says that the location is remote (without nearby farmhouses), that the weather has been cold enough to freeze a lake, and that the evening is the darkest of the year. Darkest could mean that the traveler could be depressed, downcast. However, the horse thinks it odd that they have stopped on a dark evening, so maybe the darkness is external only. The speaker could be using darkest to explain the horse's reaction.
Use of little (line 5): The word little suggests that the speaker/narrator is a humble, ordinary citizen who cannot afford a more imposing horse.

Third Stanza: Sounds are important in this stanza—namely, the sounds of the bells, the wind, and the snowflakes. All of the sounds are gentle, contrasting with the cacophony of everyday life in a town.

Fourth Stanza: The traveler would like to stay awhile and perhaps even enter the woods to absorb their ambiance and ponder the mystery of life and nature. However, he has obligations and responsibilities. Therefore, he decides to move on. But the poem does not say whether he in fact moves on. One presumes that he does.

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The Meaning of Words
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Personification: My little horse must think it queer
Comparison of the horse to a human. Only a human can determine whether something is "queer."

Hyperbole:  "to watch his woods fill up with snow" The woods will not actually fill all the way up with snow, it is an exaggeration.

Metaphor: He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake. (lines 9-10)
Comparison of the sound of the bells to a questioning voice that asks whether there is a mistake

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3rd Note: Vocabulary, Reference, Allusions

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3rd Note: Vocabulary, Reference, Allusions

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Vocabulary:

Harness - a set of straps and fittings by which a horse or other draft animal is fastened to a cart, plow, etc., and is controlled by its driver.

Queer - strange; odd.

Allusions:

In Robert Frost's  Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening there is probably a very subtle allusion to Dante's "Inferno," the first book of the Divine Comedy.  It is embodied in the poem's central image, as well as in the thematic implications of that image.