Analysis of the Works of Robert Frost and William Shakespeare

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Jackie Valente Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: Analysis of the speaker: In the opening stanza the speaker in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost is a traveler that stops with his horse to watch the snowfall and pile up in the woods. While these woods belong to someone else, that “someone else” is not there so the speaker can go in the woods… “He will not see me stopping here to watch his woods fill up with snow…” line 3. The traveler is taken back on the beauty of the woods and silence that he is tempted to stay longer. Lines 5-8 the speaker emphasizes that there is no reason for him to stop in the woods, but only for the beauty of the scene. Although the speaker can hear the “easy wind and downy flake…” line 12 this sound is almost silent. This emphasizes that the silence of the woods to the speaker adds to the beauty of the woods. The speaker wishes he could go farther into the woods that are “lovely…” but are also “dark and deep…” he can’t. He acknowledges that he cannot because he has obligations to fulfill. “…I have promises to keep…” line 14. The traveler may literally have “miles to go..” the line also functions as a metaphor. He has much life to live before he can “sleep…” permanently in “dark and deep” woods… Analysis of the person being spoken to: In the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening the speaker is talking to his readers. The speaker is describing to us how beautiful the woods look during the winter solstice and watching the woods fill up with the snow is a scene that is almost breath taking. The speaker wishes he could stay there but tells his readers that he has other responsibilities and people he cannot let down. “The woods are lovely…dark and deep… but I have promises to keep…” as a reader you see the speaker admiring the woods and then making the decision to keep on traveling because he cannot stay

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