Comparing 3 Robert Frost Poems

A detailed Summary of Comparing 3 Robert Frost Poems

Comparing Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", "Birches", and "The Road Not taken"

Robert Frost was an American poet that first became known after publishing a book in England. He soon came to be one of the best-known and loved American poets ever. He often wrote of the outdoors and the three poems that I will compare are of that "outdoorsy" type.

There are several likenesses and differences in these poems. They each have their own meaning, each represent a separate thing and each tell a different story. However, they are all indicative of Frost's love of the outdoors, his true enjoyment of nature and his wistfulness at growing old. He seems to look back at youth with a sad longing.

Each of these three poems are alike in that they are all about woods and outdoors or an item in the woods. The word "wood" or "woods" is used in each of these poems, at least once. It is used to represent both literally the tree or trees, and figuratively, they represent a journey to peace, a climb to "heaven".

In "The Road Not Taken", the "wood" is merely the setting. It is described as a "yellow wood". This is obviously fall. I can see the orange, yellow and red leaves, lying all around. The gray/br

In "The Road Not Taken", the focus is not on the woods themselves, but on the road that passes through them. The woods are the setting and they hide the road after it curves, as time hides the future from our eyes. Outwardly, this poem is about two roads, one that is well traveled and one that is not. Though both are worn about the same. The author takes the road that had not been taken, the grass tall and the leaves still freshly fallen and not trod on. This also symbolizes the choices that we have to make in our lives. We can follow others like sheep or we can boldly go our own way. The author went his own way and "that has made all the difference"!

own bark of the trees where the leaves are already fallen. The bright plumes where they have not. The trees also hide the road as it passes from sight around the bend. This symbolizes the uncertainty of the future. You can look ahead, but there is no way to know what is around the next bend.

In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" Frost does not tell us anything about the narrator. We never know anything about who "I" is. The only picture that we get of "I" is that he/she likes the woods, the snow and the peace that is found there. I get the idea that this is a man, out on an important mission. It would have to be important to ride out on a horse in a blizzard even though they used to ride horses everywhere. Also, "I" has miles to go and "promises to keep". This indicates a level of responsibility that would suggest the narrator is a man.

While there are many similarities in these poems, there are also several differences. In "Birches", the season is both summer and winter. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" winter. "The Road Not Taken" is set in fall. These seasons are ones that we sometimes use to represent the latter stages in life. Fall is a time when things are old and while sometimes beautiful, the days are numbered. Winter represents the barrenness and coldness of death. He uses summer to symbolize boyhoo

Some common words found in the essay are:
Evening Frost, Frost American, Snowy Evening, Climbing Heaven, snowy evening, woods snowy evening, stopping woods, woods snowy, stopping woods snowy, Woods Snowy, Stopping Woods, snowy evening frost, evening frost, wistfulness growing, hide road, ice storm, road passes, love outdoors, detail describing,

Approximate Word count = 1366
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English