“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”– A Quintessential Search for Truth and Nature-Elements

Abstract

Much of Robert Frost’s poems begin in delight and end in wisdom with a sharp clarity of life’s problems and approaches. Unlike Wordsworth, who worshipped nature, Robert Frost presented man as the focal point in most of his poems; his treatment of nature was a mixed feeling – both a sense of awe and mysticism. Man, nature, and environment are the three issues that come under repeated scrutiny in most of his poems, where he explores the effect of man on his environment and vice-versa. His portrayal of the situation where human beings grapple their way out patiently in their disagreeable mood – makes it more relevant in today’s context. Robert Frost reveals man – the nature dichotomy, the interrelationship between them to strike tragic depths though not communicative but always at loggerheads. This poem under study stretches afar and meanders into a quintessential search for truth and problems confronting man pitted against nature. The main aim of this article is to unravel his ambivalent views of nature, human character, and the mutual interrelationship between them with a specific focus on the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” which, expresses profound clarification on human experience against the backdrop of nature. What is Robert Frost’s understanding of nature? Why is man endlessly confronting with nature/surroundings? Does man’s inner strength have any role to play are some of the questions that seek to find out in this study. A detailed analysis of this poem reveals man’s quest for truth in the contemporary consumeristic culture, offering little space for man to be in harmony with nature. Robert Frost universalized this encounter with nature