2. Introduction
• Stopping by the wodds on a snowy evening is
a inspiring poem by Robert lee frost . There
are 4 stanzas in the poem.
• Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem
written in 1922 by Robert Frost, and published in 1923 in
his New Hampshire volume. Imagery and personification
are prominent in the work. In a letter to Louis
Untermeyer, Frost called it "my best bid for
remembrance".[
3. The poem
• 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.
4. Continuation…………………..
• 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.
5. Overview
• Frost wrote the poem in June, 1922 at his house in
Shaftsbury, Vermont. He had been up the entire night
writing the long poem "New Hampshire" and had
finally finished when he realized morning had come.
He went out to view the sunrise and suddenly got the
idea for "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".[1]
He wrote the new poem "about the snowy evening and
the little horse as if I'd had a hallucination" in just "a
few minutes without strain."[2]
• The poem is written in iambic tetrameter in the
Rubaiyat stanza created by Edward Fitzgerald
6. Use in eulogies
• In the early morning of November 23, 1963, Sid Davis
of Westinghouse Broadcasting reported the arrival of
President John F. Kennedy's casket to the White
House. As Frost was one of the President's favorite
poets, Davis concluded his report with a passage
from this poem but was overcome with emotion as
he signed off.[4]
• At the funeral of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, on
October 3, 2000, his eldest son Justin rephrased the last line of this poem
in his eulogy: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. He has kept his
promises and earned his sleep."
7. In popular culture
• American composer Randall Thompson included the poem in his choral
work, "Frostiana: Seven Country Songs," which was originally conducted
by Thompson with Frost in attendance. Another choral
interpretation, titled Sleep, was written by American composer Eric
Whitacre. Due to copyright, the text of the composition was re-written by
Charles Anthony Silvestri to comply with the wishes of Frost's estate.[6]
• The poem is discussed in The Sopranos episode "Proshai, Livushka," in
which Meadow explains the poem's meaning to her brother, AJ.[7]
• In the 1977 Cold War thriller Telefon, the last stanza is used as a trigger
phrase to activate brainwashed sleeper agents.[8]
• In the Quentin Tarantino's film Death Proof, the final stanza of the poem is
used by 'Jungle' Julia as the secret phrase that her listeners must say in
order to receive a lap dance from Julia's friend while they are out on the
town. The night passes and the only person to approach the girls and
repeat the line is the homicidal 'Stunt-man' Mike, played by Kurt Russel.
