Page 88 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Unit 7: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost—Detailed Study and Analysis

Maybe, in the end, the woods and the snow are what they are: quiet, peaceful, beautiful. Notes
Although the traveller wants to stay to look at them, he has promises to keep, and miles to
go before he sleeps.

7.2 Detailed Explanation

Stanza 1

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.
Explanation: In this opening stanza, the setting is clarified as a winter evening in a rural
environment. The speaker desires to watch snowfall quietly in some woods. While these woods
belong to someone, that person is not present and so will not protest if the speaker trespasses.
Line 1
Whose woods these are I think I know.
• Our speaker is not the most confident person in the world. This line begins as a question,
and we’re totally ready to get on board the question train, but then, halfway through the
line, he switches it up.
• He wonders initially who owns “these woods.” The word ‘these’ makes us realise that
our speaker is actually near the woods in question.
• Our speaker then tells us he thinks he knows who owns these woods. Notice how he
doesn’t say he knows who owns these woods; he says he thinks he knows.
• Why doesn’t our speaker say, “I think I know whose woods these are”? What would be
lost or gained if the poem began with that rewritten line?
Line 2
His house is in the village though;
• The speaker thinks he knows the owner of woods, and this owner lives in a house in the
village. Civilization, sweet, sweet civilization!
• This line tells us that there is a village around here somewhere. The word “village”
reminds us of thatched roofs, smoke curling out of little chimneys, and of a few stores
and homes clustered around a single main street; in other words, a village is not the
most hoppin’ place in the world.
• However, our speaker is relieved that the owner of the woods is in the village – now he
doesn’t have to worry about getting caught trespassing on someone else’s property.
Line 3
He will not see me stopping here

• Man, this woods-owner guy must be pretty strict if our speaker is so worried about
getting caught taking a breather on his property.
• The speaker is almost trying to calm himself down and reassure himself that the owner
“will not see me stopping here,” as though he believes that saying so makes it true. It’s

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