Page 81 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Elective English–II

Notes by American composer Eric Whitacre. Due to copyright, the text of the composition was re-
written by Charles Anthony Silvestri to comply with the wishes of Frost’s estate.
In the 1977 Cold War thriller Telefon, the last stanza is used as a trigger phrase to activate
brainwashed sleeper agents. In the Quentin Tarantino’s film Death Proof, the final stanza of
the poem is used by ‘Jungle’ Julia as the secret phrase that her listeners must say in order to
receive a lap dance from Julia’s friend while they are out on the town. The night passes and
the only person to approach the girls and repeat the line is the homicidal ‘Stunt-man’ Mike,
played by Kurt Russell. This is a pop culture reference to Telefon.
The last stanza of the poem is quoted at the start of the song Bobby Untitled by Nicky Wire,
from his debut solo album I Killed The Zeitgeist.

6.4 Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening

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 5
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. 10
The only other sounds 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, 15
And miles to go before I sleep.
On the surface, this poem is simplicity itself. The speaker is stopping by some woods on a
snowy evening. He or she takes in the lovely scene in near-silence, is tempted to stay longer,
but acknowledges the pull of obligations and the considerable distance yet to be travelled
before he or she can rest for the night.

Form

The poem consists of four (almost) identically constructed stanzas. Each line is iambic, with
four stressed syllables:
Within the four lines of each stanza, the first, second, and fourth lines rhyme. The third line
does not, but it sets up the rhymes for the next stanza. For example, in the third stanza, queer,
near, and year all rhyme, but lake rhymes with shake, mistake, and flake in the following
stanza.

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