In Frosts poem 'Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening' (Literature and Its Writers, 807), Frost writes about an experience in the first person, of a man on a journey, who stops by a some woods. He comments on how he knows the man who owns them, but how the person lives in the town, and wont see him. He also mentions that the woods are filling up with snow "To watch his woods, fill up with snow" (807). So far, there is woods, and snow. In the next stanza, he mentions a frozen lake, and that it is the darkest night of the year. Now we have a lake, and the dark night sky. The next stanza mentions sounds, and how the only two he hears are his horse

Frost never gave the reader much of a sense of closure in either of these poems. In the first, we never get a sense of the man sees his woods, his afterlife, only that he does see them, and acknowledges that he will one day wind up in those very woods. In the second, we aren't told how the man feels about his life after taking the road less traveled, only that it made a profound difference on his life. Frost might feel most comfortable using nature, because it is constantly changing, much like emotion and feelings constantly do. There is a sense of unknown in nature that's echoed in the human emotion. They both can change rapidly; have ups and downs, seasons in a sense. Frost very well captures these emotions and transfers them into nature, so that everyone, young and old, can relate.

It is clear that Frost is using the woods, the snow, the night, and the lake, to represent death, and the afterlife. Lakes are common images of life. Water is often used a source of life, as a reviver of things. However, this lake is frozen, there is no life in the lake now. Its ice, not water. The darkness of the night is death. The pure white of the snow is life. Frost must continue through the snow, into the night. He must continue through life, into death. Frost remarks: "I have promises to keep, but miles to go before I sleep." The man doesn't want to die yet. He has duties to fulfill in life, and plans on traveling through life longer than this point. So he presses on, and ignores the woods, the afterlife. I feel the reason the woods haven't been described is because the man couldn't describe them. He doesn't know what his afterlife will be, heaven or hell, only that it will exist. Although he is curious, and would like to know, like when he says: "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep." He mentions how they look inviting, a place he'd like to go. This poem is all about mans eternal struggle between Life, Death, and the consequences of our actions in between, which decide what comes after.

Once again, Frost uses a forest as a sense of mystery, and the unknown as a way to more easily relate to the reader Frosts meaning. The man in the story is a crossroads in his life, both literally and figuratively. He can only see so far ahead either path, so he doesn't know exactly what to expect from either one. His only clue as to what is in each path, is the number of people who have traveled on them. The man can see one is a clear path, while the other, is grassy, with very little wear. The way Frost describes it, as "wanting wear" almost gives away which path the man will choose. The man also mentions that no matter what pa

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Approximate Word count = 1768
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)