R2dub, you are welcome. Robert Frost was anything but an “innocent” poet. He was a fascinating, complex, moody, keen man who wrote some of the last century’s most profound poetry. (I am not sure why you Nebraskans were memorizing it, but I, growing up in Massachusetts, memorized it & was mighty glad that I did.) I have heard the Randall Thompson arrangement and, as music, it does not support any especial interpretation of the verse. By the way, your reading & mine do not contradict. They lay together like two fallings of snow. I had never heard Frost’s interpretation of the poem (where did you find it?), but it would not matter. One would not expect the poet to state explicitly what the poem is “about”. The poem IS the poet’s explicit statement. Furthermore, writers and other creators seldom recognize all the interpretations of their works—nor should they have to. (Williams’s “This Is Just To Say” is not solely about plums, either.)
MJB- I'd never heard of the suicide interpretation before, and I wish I hadn't now. I only came to comics.com to send this to my brothers, since we all grew up in NE and this poem is one all NE kids memorize. I've enjoyed it for over 40 years, and sang a version of it (arranged by Randall Thompson) in my college glee club. Most interpretations center around the idea of slowing down and truly appreciating the beauty all around us. If you've heard the RT arrangement it supports this concept. I did some research and your interpretation is one Frost denied publicly several times. Sorry, but you've diminished some of the innocent pleasure I have always taken from this work.
It's a good pun, but to see someone mulling over that poem gives me the creeps. It is about a man contemplating suicide, after all, and realizing that death will come eventually. Remember what Lionel Trilling called Frost: a terrifying poet. Frost loved that, and Trilling was right.
Here's the whole poem, for anyone who'd like to see it:
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 downy 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.
Love the pun! And is it just me, or is comics.com working a lot better since the upgrade a couple-three days ago? Much faster response, no hangs, that kind of thing. Thank you, comics.com!
Oh. Groan! I had to send it on to several folks! ;-) I like the Barn Coat . . . I grew up on a farm, and we had those . . . but we got ours at the local feed store, not Land's End or Cabela's!
