Snowy Evening Imagery

Imagery: Reading Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" painted some sort of Gothic-like image. The visuals of the poem were presented with a grim depiction. The author states "The only other sound's the sweep/ Of easy wind and downy flake" (lines 11-12). I imagined a dark figure collecting the life of a villager, so discreetly, that only the wind could be heard. In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," Langston Hughes presents us with clear images of timeless rivers. He states, "I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young/ I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep/ I looked upon the Nile and raised the Pyramids above it" (lines 6-8). This part of the poem bestowed an image of youth and history. And like history, the rivers seem to flow endlessly.

There is a feeling of despair in the lines "Between the woods and frozen lake/ the darkest evening of the year" (lines 7-8). As if a brighter day cannot ensue. In Hughes's poem, the tone is a bit more uplifting. The last line in the poem states, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers." Though the author's ancestors have endured struggles, he embraces the history that has been rooted by his people. This, he presents with some sort of pride and fearless attitude.
Metaphor: Both authors use heavy metaphors in their poems. Frost describes death as an entity on a horse. He disguises the death of a villager with "the darkest evening of the year." Taking someone's life is deaths duty, and he can't rest until he has carried out his mission, or, in this case, his promises. In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," Hughes uses rivers as a metaphor for countless things. He uses rivers as metaphors for his brothers, sisters, journeys, and the rich history that his people have rooted through