falling snow; it also creates the visual image of snow piling up, as well as auditory images of muted flakes forming an ever-thickening blanket of silence. Man is static while nature moves; nonetheless, both man and nature are peaceful.

In the second stanza, Frost personifies the traveler’s equine companion:

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near.

This kinetic image also emphasizes a lack of physical movement but suggests anthropomorphic action. Instead of running, rearing, snorting, or neighing in protest, the horse stops with the traveler and wonders what it going on, like a puzzled companion. When the horse does move, its small movement is described by this kinetic imagery:

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.

The horse swings his head slightly in order to ring the bells (an example of auditory imagery) and does not use a larger gesture like jerking up its head, stomping its hoofs, or swishing its tail. The animal’s subtle motion represents its unspoken conversation with the traveler.

The traveler notes that

The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

Snow is gently falling down by the “sweep” of a breeze. This kinetic image includes auditory imagery (the sound of mildly blowing wind) and tactile imagery (soft, “downy” snowflakes).

Despite stopping, the traveler must resume his journey. He has “miles to go before [he] sleep[s].”

With this kinetic image, he emphasizes that he still has quite a way to trek before he can stop again to rest. The repetition of “miles” implies an interminable distance. The repetition of “sleep” is an example of organic imagery—vivid descriptions that communicate and invoke internal sensations (like pain, hunger, fatigue) and emotions. The reader feels the traveler’s weariness in having journeyed some distance already with yet many more miles still to cover. The reader also feels the traveler’s dread in having so much farther to go in order to complete his odyssey.

The first image Frost constructs is visual (sight): the speaker stops "To watch [the owner's] woods fill up with snow" (line 4).  We can imagine, based on this sensory description, what the scene looks like: the silent and darkened trees with the snow piling higher and higher around them, as though the forest could "fill up" (like a container) with snow.

The next image is visual (and perhaps also auditory) as well: the speaker describes this spot as secluded, "without a farmhouse near / Between the woods and frozen lake / The darkest evening of the year" (6-8).  The night is very dark and very still because the narrator is the only person around and there is no ambient light from a farmhouse.  Then, again, we see the woods he's described as well as the "frozen lake" (so it must also be very cold -- this could be considered tactile imagery).

The next image is auditory (hearing): "The only other sound's the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake" (12).  Thus it is really very quiet, with no human sounds at all, and all the narrator can hear is the gentle wind blowing the soft snowflakes around.  Because he describes the snowflakes as "downy," we might also consider this a visual image (they are the fat and fluffy kinds of snowflakes) and/or a tactile (touch) one (they are soft and light and airy snowflakes).

Thus, Frost combines mostly visual imagery with some auditory and tactile images to achieve a very tranquil mood for the poem.

Figures of speech are words used in a non-literal sense. In this poem, Frost is using literary devices or figures of speech to try to make a larger point about life. When he says, for instance, that he "thinks" he knows these woods, the word "thinks" suggests he doesn't really know them at all, for all that he passed them a thousand times. Of course, in a literal sense he knows them as a familiar landmark. The poem, however, is suggesting a different, deeper kind of knowing beyond the literal that only emerges when we take the time to stop and really see a scene we might have passed too many times to count.

"Downy flake" is a figure of speech. The flakes of snow falling are not literally made of down or soft bird feathers. They are made of frozen water. But by likening them to down, the narrator is trying to convey a sense of the dreamy beauty of the scene.

Likewise, in a literal sense, it is simply a waste of words to repeat the last line of the poem: "And miles to go before I sleep." Why would he do that? We have already heard the line. Repeating it, however, is a literary device. The poet doesn't have any reason to do this, except that he is trying to communicate a deeper truth. He repeats the lines, perhaps to indicate how very unwilling he is to leave a beautiful scene. He also repeats the line to emphasize, perhaps, that life's most important moments are found in the spaces between more "important" tasks. 

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is remarkably free of figurative language; most of the poem is stated factually, without metaphor or allegory. The narrator thinks he knows the owner of the woods, who lives in the village. The woods are "filling up with snow." The lake is frozen, the evening is dark, and the woods are "lovely... and deep."

While there are others, the obvious example of figurative language is seen in the narrator's personification of his horse, which seems puzzled by the narrator's decision to stop and look at the woods instead of continuing on the path.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
[...]
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
(Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," eNotes eText)

Of course, horses don't think abstractly enough to consider things "queer" or strange, and they cannot ask any specific question. Instead, the horse is simply accustomed to moving along the path, and is waiting for instruction; it could be shaking its bells to shake snow off its neck. The narrator, however, is feeling doubt about his course in life, and so humanizes the horse, projecting some of his doubt into otherwise instinctual actions.

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.

The first thing to notice is the meter of the poem. Frost uses iambic tetrameter (four repetitions of an "unstressed-stressed" pattern), which seems to recreate the sound of a horse's hoofbeats. It's a pleasant sound that lulls the reader and could make him feel part of the scene. The poem is filled with imagery that helps set a peaceful atmosphere and tone. Through Frost's words, one can visualize snow falling lightly in the woods while a solitary rider and his horse are the only witnesses. The use of alliteration in the first stanza ("w", "wh", "h") creates soft sounds, much like the evening wind blowing thorugh the trees. Assonance ("o" and "ah" sounds) creates a similar effect. Frost uses a hyperbole when the narrator says that he will "watch his woods fill up with snow", and that aids the imagery. In the second stanza, the horse is personified and acts as a witness with the rider to the peaceful scene. The rider is jarred back to reality by the fourth stanza with the line "But I have promises to keep"; however, the use of repetition in the lines "and miles to go before I sleep" almost makes it seem as if the rider is reluctant to leave and is trying to convince himself that he must be on his way.

Often, people interpret sleep, in the final two lines, as a symbol for death. There is something very compelling and tranquil about this moment in the woods. The speaker watches the forest "fill up with snow" on this, the "darkest evening of the year." It is nearly silent, except for the sound of the "easy wind," and there is no one else around for miles and miles. He seems clearly to be on his way somewhere, but his attention has been arrested by the serene beauty of the woods. When he says that he has "promises to keep," he seems to be referencing his obligations: all of those things that keep him moving on when he'd really prefer to just stay here in this place, now. He says that he has "miles to go before [he] sleep[s]" twice, and the repetition makes it seem as though this idea carries extra significance. Sleep is often symbolic of death, and the narrator's longing to simply stay in the beautiful woods forever makes it seem as though he could be wishing to lay all his burdens down figuratively, in death, as well as literally, in sleep.

To be honest, Frost normally writes in a style that is very simple and marked mostly by the absence of figures of speech. In this poem, for example, the closest I can come to finding anything like a simile, metaphor or personification is the implied metaphor in the following quote:

He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

Here, woods literally cannot "fill up" with snow as they are not an enclosed container. The implied metaphor compares the woods to a restricted area or a kind of massive walled-in section of land that can fill up. The implied metaphor is used therefore to exaggerate the amount of snow that is falling and how the level of snow on the ground is rising so quickly. Apart from this one example, you might want to focus on the symbolism of the poem. If you do a search for this on enotes you will find many responses.

Frost uses imagery, which is description involving the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, to put us at the scene. His focus is on sight and sound.

As for sight, he locates us with the traveler "between the woods and frozen lake" on a dark night far from any farmhouse. We can see the white snow falling against a black night in this spot just as the narrator does. Frost also conveys sound: both the shake of the horse's harness bell, and

the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

There are a couple of poetic devices used in this poem by Frost. In the first line, Frost inverts the normal sentence structure of the line: "Whose woods these are I think I know" instead of "I think I know whose woods these are." This switching of regular word order first helps with the rhyme scheme that he keeps throughout the poem, but since it is the first line of the poem, it also catches the reader's attention. Frost could have started the poem in any fashion and matched the rhyme to that first line; he chose to invert it from the start.

There is also personification of the speaker's horse, who "must think it queer" (5) that the speaker has stopped so suddenly, and who "gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake" (9-10).  

Finally, Frost uses alliteration to create the sense and sound of snow falling in line 11: "The only other sound's the sweep." The "s" sound created by the repetition gives the sense of quiet that a snowfall would bring.  

In the third stanza, you find the most Alliteration, i.e. repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words, "He gives his harness bells a shake" there are also examples in the first and fourth stanzas "His house is in the village though,"  "To watch his woods fill up with snow," and "The woods are lovely, dark and deep."

Personification is found in the second and third stanzas, ascribing human emotions to the horse:  "My little horse must think it queer|To stop without a farmhouse near," and "He gives his harness bells a shake|to ask if there is some mistake." 

Exaggeration is found dotting the poem.  "Watch his woods fill up with snow," and consider the trees are at least 20 feet tall.  "The Darkest evening of the year," how can that be measured.  "The only other sound's the sweep|of easy wind and downy flake," these sounds would be hard to specifically isolate.

All three of the poetic elements you mention (alliteration, exaggeration, and personification) can be found in Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."

Alliteration is, of course, the repetition of initial (beginning) consonant sounds, and examples of it can be found in nearly every line of this poem. (Sometimes it is easier to recognize alliteration and its close relative consonance by reading lines aloud, as there are multiple ways to achieve some sounds.) Note the examples of alliteration (which I have put in bold print) just in the first stanza:

Whose woodsthese are I think I know.
Hishouse is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watchhiswoods fill up with snow.

The consistent use of the initial -S, -Th, and -W sounds is alliteration. Notice that whose actually belongs with the "H" words, since it is the sound and not the letters that create alliteration. 

Exaggeration is a little more difficult to find, because it is quite possible that what the speaker says is true; however, these two examples seem to be a bit hyperbolic (exaggerated for effect):

The darkest evening of the year
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

It is the superlatives in the first one (darkest evening of the entire year) and the repetition of the second (miles and miles) which suggest they are at least somewhat exaggerated.

Personification is giving human qualities to something non-human or non-living, and the only real example of it in this poem is the horse who can "think" and "ask."

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.

This is a poem full of many poetic devices, among them alliteration, exaggeration, and personification. 

Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a tender poem that relies heavily on imagery to reveal the vulnerability of its speaker. Imagery is commonly defined as descriptive language that appeals to the senses, offering the reader an opportunity to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch along with the speaker. In Frost's poem, the imagery allows us to notice what the speaker notices, all the while building a tone and theme that has proved memorable and poignant to readers for decades.

The speaker first notices that he is alone, commenting on how the owner of the land lives in the village far from the woods:

The first line has inverted syntax (the subject and predicate are placed at the end):

Whose woods these are I think I know.

The imagery is as follows:

• natural imagery: "woods," "snow," "frozen lake", "downy flake"
• sound imagery: "sweep of easy wind"; "bells"
• light/dark imagery: "snow" vs. "The darkest evening of the year."
• man-made imagery: "farmhouse," "harness," "village"

The themes:

• Duty and Responsibility: "promises to keep"
• Beauty: "the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake."
• Return to Nature (and this is the motif / metaphor as well):

With sadness, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" examines just how difficult it has become in the modern world for man to stay in touch with nature. The poem is made up of contrasting images of the natural and the man-made: the woods and the village, the farmhouse and the lake, even the horse and the harness-bells. The speaker is enchanted with the things of nature, but is constantly reminded of human things, and, after a few minutes of giving in to the enchantment, decides with regret that this return to nature cannot last. In this poem humanity is represented not just by objects but by the concept of ownership. The first two words focus attention on an absent character about whom we only find out two things: that he lives in the village, away from nature, and that he owns the woods. It is the irony of this, that the owner does not appreciate what he has, that establishes the poem's mood. Man, it tells us, is wasteful.

I'm not sure I would call Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" allegorical in any sense.  One might say it's symbolic or that it involves an extended metaphor, but I don't see it as an allegory.

If the poem is symbolic or involves an extended metaphor, it is in the sense that the absent land owner, separated from nature, symbolizes humans who are separated from nature and don't realize what they're missing.  Connected to this interpretation is the opposition of the man-made (such as the barn), with the natural (the snow and woods).  The speaker/character, too, though he appreciates the natural, cannot stay to admire it because of human responsibilities. 

The poem may also close with a metaphor:

And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Some commentators suggest this is a metaphor for death.  In this interpretation, though the speaker longs for the peace of death (sleep), he chooses to fulfill his responsibilities and promises, rather than to seek what he wishes. 

The use of iambic pentameter is one device that makes the poem wonderfully readable.  In this poem, Frost uses iambic pentameter, which is when you have an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one.  For example, if I copy a few of Frost's lines from the poem here and then capitalize the part of the word that the stress is on, you will be able to see iambic pentameter more clearly:

Whose WOODS are THESE I THINK I KNOW

His HOUSE is IN the VILLAGE, though; (qtd. in Enotes)

Also, Frost's diction is fantastic.  Diction is a writer's choice of words he/she uses.  Frost's diction sets the tone of this poem, which is one of melancholy and quiet reflection.

Frost's poem is tightly constructed, imbued with multiple layers of meaning, and thematically important in its treatment of both the individual and the environment.

From the first line, we see Frost's deft touch: "Whose woods are these, I think I know." We have the alliteration of whose and woods, these and think, I and I. We also know that the place he wanders through is familiar, but that he is probably a trespasser.

Notice how the word "woods" is repeated four times. Each time "woods" appears, one senses the speaker's isolation, both physically and spiritually. The woods separate the speaker from humans and place him within the coldness of the natural world: "Whose woods are these I think I know / His house is in the village though"; the woods "fill up with snow" and are on a "frozen lake"; the woods are "lovely, dark, and deep."

The natural world may be harsh but the speaker finds beauty there as well. For example, the snow that falls is given the beautiful description of "downy flakes." The woods, though cold and frozen, are also "lovely."

The use of figurative language is another device Frost uses. We do not know what "promises" the speaker has made, but the twice repeated "miles to go before I sleep" may mean that it is a long time before the man will die and that there is much to do before his time on earth comes to an end.

There is no personification (personification is giving inanimate objects human attributes; therefore, if we go by this definition (see www.dictionary.com), the horse would not count since it is not inanimate) or significant alliteration in this poem, although there are a few places where there are 2 repeated consonant sounds. The main element is iambic pentameter, which involves the form of the poem. eNotes states that:

"Iambic" means that each metrical foot contains two syllables, an unstressed one followed by a stressed one. "Tetrameter" means that each line contains four metrical feet. So a poem written in iambic tetrameter would contain a total of eight syllables in each line.

Also, the poem has a specific rhyme scheme, as well. See this link: http://www.enotes.com/stopping-by/style.

**Anthropomorphism is the term for giving human characteristics to animals.  Thanks, linda-allen!!!** 

There is definitely personification in the second and third stanzas. Personification is attributing human charactersitics to the non-human. Enotes specifically defines it as "a figure of speech in which abstractions, animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are endowed with human form, character, traits, or sensibilities." So when the speaker says that "My little horse must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near" and "He gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake," he is giving the horse, a non-human, the ability to think and ask questions much in the same way that a human being would.

There is also a fair amount of alliteration, or repitition of beginning consonant sounds. Some examples are below:

watch his woods (repeated w sounds)

his harness (repeated h sounds)

sound's the sweep (s sounds)

For more information on the style Frost used in this poem, see the link below.

Other links explain personification and alliteration.