Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Group

Question:

lrothman
lrothman
Student
High School - 10th Grade

Are there any similes in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"?  Any other literary devices or figurative language?

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Posted by lrothman on Sunday April 13, 2008 at 5:55 PM and tagged with figurative language, literary devices, personification, simile, stopping by woods on a snowy evening, style.

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  1. kwoo1213 Teacher
    College - Junior

    eNotes Editor

    A simile is a comparison that normally uses "like" or "as"; however, this poem has no similes.  One of the literary devices that is not figurative language that is used that is obvious is repetition.  It is used in the last 2 lines of the poem, which is very important.  Repetition is used for emphasis; therefore, Frost must have felt the last 2 lines to be very important since they are identical.  More than likely, Frost was having his narrator repeat the last 2 lines because the narrator realizes he must now return to the "real world."  He has had his moment of connecting to nature; however, his horse has shaken his harness bells and is reminding the narrator that they have a long way to go before they get to their destination.

    There are a couple of instances of alliteration, in line 4 and line 11.  Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of 2 or more words.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/stopping-by/

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    Posted by kwoo1213 on Sunday April 13, 2008 at 7:03 PM


  2. jamie-wheeler Teacher
    College - Sophomore

    eNotes Editor

    There are no similes in Frost's poem, but there are a number of literary devices the poet employs to create a tone of physical and emotional isolation, both states the speaker does not find particularly uncomfortable.

    For example, Frost turns the traditional expectations of "dark" and "cold" into spaces which are more welcoming than alarming. While "the darkest evening of the year" might mean foreboding in another poem, here it implies a state in which the speaker feels at ease, cloaked in darkness and able to observe the woods at his leisure, without anyone asking him what he is doing or why he is doing it. The evening, rather than being cold and unpleasant, is described as being enveloped in "easy wind" and "downy flake." The speaker also calls the woods "lovely."

    As for figurative language, the speaker's horse is subjected to some mild personification, when the animal is depicted as thinking it "queer / To stop without a farmhouse near."

    Figurative language is also employed in the twice repeated final lines, "And miles to go before I sleep." While on the one hand, it may simply mean that the speaker must continue on a great distance before finding a bed, it may also figuratively mean that he has a long life ahead of him before "eternal rest" draws nigh.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/stopping-by/

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    Posted by jamie-wheeler on Sunday April 13, 2008 at 7:11 PM