Robert Frost Figurative Language

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• Historical Perspective of the Poem Most poem readers would take the poem at face-value, disregarding its poetic composition, rhyming and ideas asserted. According to Robert Frost, the poem was composed in just one night. The poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ was composed in 1922 and published in 1923 in ‘New Hampshire’ volume. After pulling off an all-nighter on his poem ‘New Hampshire’, he stepped outside in wee hours of the morning and had a sudden inspiration for the poem. A love for nature, imagery and personification are found recurrently. He termed it as ‘his best effort for remembrance’. • Poetic Structure of the poem Readers and children alike have taken a liking to this naturalistic poem. It has a ring to when recited loudly. …show more content…

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. 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. The notable exception to this pattern comes in the final stanza, where the third line rhymes with the previous two and is repeated as the fourth line. Do not be fooled by the simple words and the easiness of the rhymes; this is a very difficult form to achieve in English without debilitating a poem’s content with forced