Frost: Revisted

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

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.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and down flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

If you're like me, you've read The Road Less Traveled at least a hundred times a year between first grade and graduation, and are so sick of being introducted to it as if you've never read it before that you didn't want to hear the name, 'Robert Frost' again. After I read some of his other poems, I was disappointed in myself for not having read more of Frost. I was just so incredibly sick of that one poem by graduation, because everyone in grade school seems convinced that Robert Frost never wrote a single thing before or after The Road Less Traveled. 

Of course, I'm not saying that The Road Less Traveled isn't a wonderful poem---it is, and it's a sad thing that it's been picked apart so much in a school setting that most people don't even batt an eyelash when reading it nowadays. Archibald MacLeish would swoon. But I would like to give Frost a sort of revival in the eyes of young readers.

Some amazing Robert Frost poems that aren't The Road Less Traveled.

Acquainted With the Night

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Design

And here's a link to pretty much everything.

I still have to say that my favorite of his poems is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. I can't really put my finger on why.