The Road Not Taken

Hello friend!

I have brought you a new blog post today. Happy reading!

The Road Not Taken is one of famous American poet Robert Frost’s most critically acclaimed and well-known poems.  It was published in 1916 as the first poem in a journal called Mountain Interval; it’s quite a pretty little poem, simply worded and well-expressed. On the surface, the speaker is talking about how he had to make a choice when he came to a fork-road diverging in a “yellow wood”; he is actually referring to the difficult decisions everyone has to make when they reach a certain age. You gotta mull things over really carefully and, above all, make sure you don’t choose a path which you will regret later. Just like the speaker, who is a traveller, all of us come to such diverging paths at least once in our lives. It’s difficult to pick one, because oftentimes, both of ‘em look inviting, but, unfortunately, we can’t choose both [yes, it’s a cruel world.] When we eventually step on our chosen path, we must be prepared for the direction in which it will take us; we will never be able to turn back.  That’s what Frost is trying to convey through this lovely poem. The last lines are particularly significant [and really famous, too! I often recite this poem to myself when I’m in a pinch]: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” Well, that’s spot-on, Frost!

While traversing a yellow wood, the speaker comes upon a fork in the road. For a while, he wonders which path he should choose, as both of them look equally appealing and enticing; he carefully scrutinizes the first path, then instinctively turns toward the second path [because “it was grassy and wanted wear”, meaning that it had not seen many travellers; the fact that he chose the less-travelled path demonstrates his courage and curiosity [right? Don’t you agree?] At first, he states that he kept the first path for another day, as he’s hungry for any adventure that life can give him; however, he contradicts himself immediately, stating that as “way leads on to way”[meaning that one life-changing decision leads on to another, making it difficult, if not impossible, to turn back when you balk], he might never be able to go back to the first path.  The fact that he chose the second path probably means that the poor speaker had to face a lot of hurdles and extremely difficult decisions while walking down the road he chose himself. […well, he’s not “poor”. It was his decision. No one forced him to choose the second path. It’s better to take responsibility for one’s own actions.]  In the first three stanzas, the speaker demonstrates absolutely no regret or remorse, choosing the second path with great alacrity; however, in the fourth and last stanza, as an old, weathered man, the speaker laments his foolhardy decision, looking back on this particular event in his life with a new perspective, asking himself what made him choose the second path; he attempts to justify his decision by claiming that he chose the more “difficult” path, but that’s just an excuse; he is now wishing he really could turn back the clock and choose the first path. Maybe his life would have been very different then; maybe he wouldn’t have regretted his decision [there are endless possibilities. I think the speaker is urging us to think at least a hundred times before we finally, tentatively select a life-path for ourselves. He was kinda hasty, and now he’s holding his head in his hands and is obviously dissatisfied.] He resents the fact that he had to make such a tough choice in the first place, and states that he now realizes that a single decision can shape a person’s future.  There’s another thing—please note the title. It’s “The Road Not Taken”; from careful analysis of the title itself, several renowned literary critics have declared that the speaker is bitterly regretting his decision [as I stated earlier. At this juncture, he’s not really focusing on the path he did choose; instead, he chooses to focus on the path he didn’t choose. [What a disagreeable person, don’t you think?]

Conclusively, what I want to say is that don’t make the same mistakes, folks. It’s almost a matter of life-or-death when you have to make several important decisions; a single decision can make or break your future.  Think of your life as a piece of wet clay, and of yourself as the moulder; it’s up to the moulder’s hands and creativity. You can either shape your life, or completely destroy it. This probably seems a bit harsh, but it’s just the way things are. Decisions really have the power to do anything. Human nature is contradictory; we’re not easily satisfied, we always desire something we don’t have [yeah, the grass is greener on the other side] and, most importantly, we’re often pretty indecisive. We take seemingly insignificant, day-to-day decisions without any hesitation, but dither in a pitiful manner when it comes to taking drastic decisions. …Yeah, I’ve lectured you rather a lot. I needed to let all of it out, though! I’m relieved now. Also, just so you know, I came to two diverging roads this morning [I couldn’t decide whether I should write on “After Apple-Picking” [another marvellous poem by the one and only Frost] or “The Road Not Taken”. Eventually, I came to a very firm, concrete decision: I’d write on “The Road Not Taken”. You’re looking right at the result! So I’d just like to say this: “Two poems diverged in my mind, and I—I chose The Road Not Taken, and that has made all the difference.”  So… that’s all for today. I’ll write on “After Apple-Picking” next week. Stay tuned!

See you next time!

Thank you! I hope you liked my article!

Battle Royale

Hello friend!

I have brought you a new, extremely interesting blog post today. Happy reading!

[WARNING: this contains MAJOR spoilers.]

Battle Royale is a dystopian novel by the Japanese author Koushun Takami. It’s his first [and most successful] book till date. Originally completed in 1996, it was not published until 1999. It’s one of the best books ever written in the Japanese language; I’m sure everyone who’s read it will agree with me! Oh, and in case you were wondering how I read a Japanese book, it’s been translated into several languages [the most prominent among these is the English version.] It’s such an incredible book!!! It’s a story about a class of 42 junior high school students who are forced to fight each other to the death [like modern gladiators] in a program run by Japan’s fascist regime; Japan is now known as the Republic of Greater East Asia. The plot is set in 1997. According to me, Battle Royale explores every human emotion—happiness, sadness, angst—through characters who are both simple and complex at once. Anyway, I’d better get on with the story!

In the prologue, it is revealed that Japan is now ruled by a fictional authoritarian regime, and the country is now called “The Republic of Greater East Asia.” This state arose after an alternate version of the Second World War. After subduing an internal rebellion, the government, in the present day, controls literally everything; even rock music is banned, as it is considered “immoral” [hah! Immoral? Seriously? The government is simply afraid of another rebellion.] The dictator remains unnamed and unseen, but this person obviously has a massive cult following and uses fear and violence to make the citizens toe the line. In line with this aforementioned objective, the government has established a sort of military “game”, the Battle Experiment No.68 Program, wherein 50 arbitrarily selected junior high students are abducted, dropped into a remote location, and forced to kill each other until only one remains. On the surface, this program helps the government pick the survivors for their army and test each student’s individual survival skills; however, this excessively brutal experiment has only been designed in order to instil fear and distrust into the hearts of the populace, as the participants are picked randomly [and their parents are forced to watch them end up killing their friends, as the Program is broadcasted.] I know I said that 50 students are chosen, but in 1997, only 42 are chosen [50 students make for a very long program, so the government reduced the number of students.]

The students of Class 9-b, Shiroiwa Junior High School, are a very happy-go-lucky bunch… at least most of them are. They’re especially bubbly in the first chapter, as they’re on a field trip; little do they know what cruel Fate has in store for them. Seven students are particularly vital to the plot—Male Student No.15 Shuya Nanahara, a rebellious brat and wannabe rockstar; Female Student No.15 Noriko Nakagawa, a quiet, repressed, physically frail girl who’s the least likely to survive the Program; Male Student No.6 Kazuo Kiriyama, a psychopath who literally excels at everything he does [he’s also the main antagonist of the book]; Female Student No.11 Mitsuko Souma, an extremely beautiful, twisted, deeply emotionally scarred girl who stops at nothing to get her own way [I don’t like her, but I feel awfully sorry for her]; Male Student No.19 Shinji Mimura, a star basketball player and an extremely astute young man [My favourite character. No doubt about this. He beats ‘em all hollow]; Male Student No.11 Hiroki Sugimura, a naïve martial artist; and Male Student No.5 Shogo Kawada, a taciturn transfer student. En route, they are gassed—the field trip was a mere ruse for the Program. When the students regain consciousness, they find themselves in a classroom on a small vacated island, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Moreover, they’re surrounded by armed soldiers, and are wearing metal collars around their necks […seriously, these kids aren’t animals. Collars?] A psychotic sadist called Kinpatsu Sakamochi attempts to put the students “at ease” by telling them that they have been selected for the Program, and have three days to kill each other till only one of them remains alive. Should there be more than one survivor, the metal collars will detonate, killing them all and nullifying the results of the Program. Also, should all of them band together and refuse to fight, the result will be the same—BAM! [Ugh… sicko!] Shuya’s best friend, Male Student No. 7 Yoshitoki Kuninobu, is killed by one of the soldiers when he attacks Sakamochi.  Shocked, horrified and, above all, enraged, Shuya mentally vows to tear down the Program. The students are issued survival packs and a random weapon/tool, and sent out into the wild one by one. While most of the students are given weapons such as guns or knives, Noriko is given a boomerang [which can be quite deadly when thrown correctly; however, she’s never held a boomerang before, so she doesn’t know how to use it] and Hiroki is given a radar device that tracks other students [incredibly useful as a tool, but not as a weapon. He fashions a pole for himself later.]

To make sure the students kill each other, the metal collars will track their movements and will spontaneously explode if they linger in “Forbidden Zones”, randomly selected danger zones which will shrink the battlefield and change its positioning, forcing the students to stay on their feet. These amazing [for the government, that is] collars will secretly transmit the students’ conversations to the organisers, allowing them to figure out the participants’ survival strategies and escape plans, if any. The collars will detonate if a full day passes without anyone dying. As expected, the students rapidly lose their tenuous grip over their sanity, and abandon all moral restraints as they desperately fight [and kill] to survive. Alliances are made and broken; close friends turn on each other; some gullible people are literally stabbed in the back. Kiriyama and Mitsuko rapidly get into the “feel” of the Program, killing anyone who stands in their way [both of them intend to “win” this. They’re sadistic and brutal enough to kill without thinking twice. Let me tell you this, dear reader—in such experiments, no one “wins”. Either you survive, or you don’t. That’s all. It can’t be counted as a victory. They don’t get this, of course.] Also, there are some very strong-willed kids who refuse to play the game according to the government; among them are Shuya, Noriko, Shinji, Hiroki, and even Kawada [who was in the previous year’s Program. He ended up in this gladiator-type experiment again, because when he transferred to Shiroiwa, he was put into the class that was going to be chosen. Tough luck! I really respect him. He’s an excellent strategist, and pretty friendly when one gets to know him.] Shuya takes Noriko under his wing as she’s frail, she’s injured, and she has no survival strategy [by the way, he doesn’t have a strategy either. He just sort of got lucky till now.] Kawada decides to help them, seeing them as symbols of rebellion. Meanwhile, Shinji, who prefers to operate alone, attempts to hack the system running the Program and bomb the school where Sakamochi and the other organisers are holed up; sadly, he is killed by Kiriyama. [I think this might have been the first time I cried while reading the book.  I was always horrified by the extent to which Kiriyama would go, but I hated him in this particular scene. Really!]

A softer side to Mitsuko is revealed when she comes across Male Student No.13 Yuichiro Takiguchi, a sweet kid who insists on seeing the good in everybody, even Mitsuko. She’s incredibly touched as no one ever saw her as a human being before; initially, she believes that Yuichiro is simply trying to catch her off-guard, but soon comes to realise that he truly, genuinely trusts her and believes that she can become a better person.  She doesn’t want to kill him, but reminding herself of her hatred towards men, ends up stabbing him with her sickle [this was easily one of the saddest scenes in the book. I really loved Yuichiro. I wish there were more people like him in today’s harsh world.] Hiroki is killed shortly after when he tries to fight Kiriyama; he’s really strong, but isn’t exactly trying to kill his opponent. Kiriyama has no such compunction. Now, there are only five players left. There’s a massive fight between Mitsuko and Kiriyama, resulting in the former’s death [I never liked Mitsuko, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to see her die like that.] Kiriyama is eventually killed himself when Noriko shoots him in self-defence [this is the first and the last bullet she fires during the Program. She vehemently hates violence. She was the only one with a loaded gun, so she was forced to fire the decisive bullet.] Kawada turns on Shuya and Noriko, calmly stating that he intended to be the only survivor from the start, and that both of them were laughably naïve for trusting him. The collars record two gunshots.

Declared the winner by Sakamochi, Kawada is escorted to his transport off the island, surrounded by soldiers. However, Sakamochi states that he knows Shuya and Noriko are alive, and his supposed “execution” of the two “brats” [yeah, that’s what he calls them] was a ruse to confuse the government. He’d found a way to disable their collars. Calling him an ungrateful insurgent, Sakamochi attempts to kill him [but the boy overpowers him at once. Hah!] A hidden Shuya and Noriko invade the ship and kill the soldiers on board. As they take control of the ship and steer it towards the mainland, Kawada succumbs to his injuries sustained during the battle with Kiriyama, and passes on, but not before thanking Shuya and Noriko for being his friends. With his last breath, he advises them to flee to America.

In the epilogue, it is revealed that Shuya and Noriko have been branded as national rebels, and are planning to escape to democratic America, pursued by the government. After all, this is the first time that two students managed to defeat the Program! So you see, dear reader, strong willpower and friendship beats psychological fear and brutality any day.

That’s all for now. See you next time!

Thank you! I hope you liked my article!

Treasure Island

Hello friend!

I have brought you a new blog post today. Happy reading!

[WARNING: This contains MAJOR spoilers]

Treasure Island is a novel penned by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a beautifully woven tale of “buccaneers [a Spanish term for pirates] and buried gold.” It’s so incredibly well-written that it sends chills down your spine when you get to the really violent bits. The main antagonist, “Long” John Silver, is easily the most complex character of the book. He’s a one-legged former pirate who committed atrocious crimes and would’ve been hanged at least three years prior to the events of the story [but he escaped his sentence through bribery.] He may not be a pirate anymore when he’s introduced, but one doesn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that his violent, back-stabbing tendencies haven’t gone. I read Treasure Island when I was an impressionable kid of ten, and I absolutely loved it—it was more interesting than any other book I’d read. At the time, Silver’s great intellect, excellent survival and combat skills [ though he doesn’t have one leg and has to use a crutch, he moves like a monkey] and calm demeanour both terrified and impressed me [my sister totally understands how I feel.] The narrator is 12-year-old kid named Jim Hawkins. He’s a rather passive narrator, simply describing events without allowing the reader an insight into his own emotions or thoughts. His description of characters is also somewhat biased; Silver was friendly to him, so Jim gets all starry-eyed and begins hero-worshipping Silver. He is greatly troubled when he begins seeing Silver for what he truly is—a cunning, malicious man with savage instincts. Anyway, I’d better get on with the story!

The book is divided into six parts:

Part 1: “The Old Buccaneer”

An old, eccentric sailor, calling himself “Captain Billy Bones” [his real name is never revealed] arrives on the doorstep of the Admiral Benbow Inn on the west English Coast during the mid-18^th century, paying the innkeeper’s son, Jim Hawkins, a few pennies each day to keep a lookout for a “one-legged seafaring man.” Jim, who has a vivid imagination, is at once both fascinated and intimated by this strange lodger.  A few weeks later, a seaman with both legs intact [but missing two fingers] comes to the inn, intending to confront Bones about the treasure map he’s hiding from his comrades; Bones violently attacks him and chases him off. A while later, Bones, who is a die-hard drunkard, has a stroke. He reveals to Jim that his former shipmates are after his treasure chest, and his life is in grave danger. The next week sees another evil man arriving at the Admiral Benbow—a blind man called Pew, who slips a piece of paper into Bones’ shaking hand—the “black spot”, a mark of distrust among pirates and an indication that he will soon be assassinated. Bones’ horror and stress cause him to experience another debilitating stroke, and he passes away shortly after. Jim and his widowed mother [his father died just a few days back] open the sea chest, discovering the remnants of an old map along with money and a journal. When the inn is attacked by Pew and his cronies, Jim and his mother barely escape with their lives [and the chest]; leaving his mother at a nearby village for her safety, Jim seeks the assistance of the local physician, Dr Livesey, and the district squire, Trelawney; these two capable men deduce that the map is of the island where a deceased pirate, Captain Flint, buried his treasure. Trelawney, an extremely excitable man, proposes buying a magnificent ship and going after the treasure, taking Livesey as ship’s doctor and Jim as cabin’s boy.

Part 2: “The Sea Cook”

Some weeks later, the Squire introduces Jim to a “reputable, solid English gentleman” called “Long” John Silver [ha! If Silver is reputable, I bet it’s gonna rain spears tomorrow.] Jim is initially uneasy around Silver as he has only one leg, but Silver soon puts him at ease with his friendly demeanour. Silver is always accompanied by a parrot whom he has named “Captain Flint”; the darned bird keeps screeching “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” The ship’s captain, Smollett, is the only other “clean” person on the ship; he is well aware of the fact that the crew-members are all former pirates who are looking for treasure. He has his misgivings about them, but the ship, Hispaniola, sets sail anyway. During the voyage, the first mate of the ship disappears overboard. Just before the ship lands on Treasure Island, Jim accidentally-on-purpose overhears Silver discussing “the afore planned mutiny” with two sailors, one of whom is just sixteen. Thinking quickly [though his body is initially paralysed with terror; he’s a kid after all], Jim alerts Captain Smollett, Doctor Livesey, and Squire Trelawney. Most of the crewmen are aligned with “Long” John, so Livesey calculates that they will be seven to nineteen against the mutineers and must pretend to be ignorant of the mutiny until the treasure is found [in order to surprise their enemies.]

Part 3: “My Shore Adventure”

After the ship is anchored, Silver gathers a few of his underlings and goes ashore. Two men who vehemently refuse to join the mutiny are killed—one with such an ear-splitting screech that everyone realises that Silver has dropped all pretense and is going to go all out to seize the treasure. That impulsive brat Jim, determined to see Silver’s actions for himself [he feels betrayed, as Silver was exceptionally kind to him], joins the shore party and covertly witnesses Silver killing one of his comrades. Half-crazed with terror and rage, he flees and, in doing so, encounters a wild Englishman, Ben Gunn, who was marooned on this island three years before, and reveals that he knows Silver and the mutineers very well, offering to help in return for passage home and part of the treasure. Jim quickly agrees and leads Gunn back to the ship.

Part 4: “The Stockade”

Meanwhile, Smollett, Livesey, and Trelawney come ashore [with Trelawney’s servants] in an effort to openly confront the mutineers. They take refuge in an abandoned stockade. The mutineers still on the ship, led by an evil, diabolical [and frankly, not very smart] man called Israel Hands [the coxswain] run up the pirate flag, the Jolly Roger. The two sides openly begin their battle, and one of Trelawney’s servants and one pirate are killed on the first day. The ship’s gun steadily keeps firing upon the five people holed up in the stockade [to no effect]. Jim and Gunn find the stockade in the evening, and Jim is horrified upon realising that one of Trelawney’s servants has died. The next morning, Silver proposes a truce between the warring parties, offering terms that Smollett openly refuses. It is revealed that Gunn has killed a pirate in the night [Jim realises this, but Silver is unaware of the identity of the killer.] When Smollett refuses to hand over the map and insults Silver, Silver snaps and declares that he and his cronies will massacre anyone who dares to oppose them. An hour later, the attack on the stockade is launched.

Part 5: “My Sea Adventure”

After an extremely fierce battle, the surviving mutineers retreat, planning to regroup. They’ve lost five men, but two more of the captain’s group have been killed and Smollett himself is gravely injured. Livesey leaves the stockade to search for Gunn; Jim, wanting to escape from all the screams and blood and curses, goes exploring and finds Gunn’s coracle [a tiny boat. Suits someone as tiny as Jim.] After dark, he cuts the anchored Hispaniola adrift. The two foolishly incompetent pirates on the ship, Hands and O’Brien, interrupt their drunken quarrel to run on deck, but the Hispaniola—dragging Jim’s coracle with her-- is swept out to sea. Exhausted, Jim falls asleep on the boat [he really is a child; letting down his guard when he doesn’t even know whether he’ll be alive tomorrow or not!] He wakes up the next morning on the western coast of the island. When he encounters the ship, he suspects that the two pirates are dead, because the ship is eerily silent; however, upon climbing aboard, he finds O’Brien dead and Hands badly wounded. Hands attacks Jim, pinning him to the ship’s mast with a knife while stating that little brats should be killed slowly; however, Jim’s survival instincts take over [he frees himself through sheer willpower, then turns on Hands and throws the knife at him. Hands dies on the spot. See? Jim is quite brave and impressive at times, right? He’s a hot-headed, naïve kid, but sometimes demonstrates exceptional cunning and strength for a boy his age.]  Keeping his wits about him, he secures the ship to the best of his ability and goes ashore, heading back to the stockade as fast as he can. However, when he enters the stockade in utter darkness, he gets the shock of his life [uhhhh, that’s probably a major understatement] when he is greeted by Silver and the surviving five mutineers, who have taken over the stockade in his absence.  Poor kid!

Part 6: “Captain Silver”

A few pirates decide to kill Jim, but Silver talks them down, revealing that he still has a soft spot for Jim […well, sorta.] He tells Jim that the warring parties have called an uneasy truce, and the captain has surrendered the map. Silver and the others take Jim with them as a hostage when they go out to scout the island. They encounter a strangely angled skeleton [its arms are pointed toward the treasure. As expected, this seriously unnerves the party.] Eventually, after some more trial and error, they stumble upon the treasure cache—which is empty. [Heh! Poor pirates! …Serves ‘em right!] The pirates charge at Jim, intending to kill him, but Silver shields him. Shots are fired by Livesey, Trelawney, and Smollett [it was a very well-planned ambush, was it not?]. Silver and his men are nicely trapped. One of the pirates, George Merry, is killed, while the rest retreat. Retrieving Jim, who is badly shaken but physically unharmed, Livesey explains that Gunn had already found the treasure and taken it to his cave. They take Silver prisoner [he really needs to face judgement for his crimes]. Over the next few days, they load much of the treasure onto the Hispaniola, abandon the remaining mutineers [with plenty of food and other rations], and sail away. At their first stop in Spanish America, Silver, being the sly, untrustworthy man that he is, steals a bag of money and escapes. The rest sail back to Bristol and divide up the treasure, with Jim getting a lot because of his bravery and resourcefulness during the voyage. Concluding the novel, Jim states that there is plenty more to be found on the island, but he’s more than happy with his share. “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!”

That’s all for now. See you next time!

Thank you! I hope you liked my article.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Hello friend!

I have brought you a new blog post today. It’s about one of Robert Frost’s poems. Happy reading!!!

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is one of Robert Frost’s critically acclaimed poems. It was penned by him in 1922, and published in 1923 in his “New Hampshire” volume. Imagery, personification, and repetition can be seen throughout this poem. This poem is especially famous for: “But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.” Cryptic, right? This poem is dark, and has several underlying meanings; Frost wrote this when he was sailing through rough [to say the least] waters, so the poem reflects his feelings. Frost commonly used snow to depict both darkness and beauty; this poem is no exception. The titular “snowy woods” symbolise death, cold [and unforgiving] beauty, temptations, and distractions; I’m sure all of us have times in our lives when we just want to indulge in petty pleasures, and are distracted from our duties [naturally, this applies to me as well. We are humans, after all—and I am a teenager☺.] This poem is my absolute, undisputed favourite!! I love snow, and I’m a great fan of Frost’s writing style. I love how he can portray different emotions in his poems; one is reminded of how complex –yet, at times, simple—human nature is.  

As the poem begins, the poet, who is presumably travelling, halts in a beautiful, snow-filled wood.  He vaguely states that he “thinks he knows” who owns the wood, but he lives in the village and will not be aware of the poet’s trespassing. [My, my. The owner should be grateful he has such beautiful woods; the poet can only drink in the woods’ beauty. Honestly, some people never count their blessings!] The poet’s little horse is personified—the poet states that the poor animal probably thinks it’s really strange for them to stop in an uninhabited wood [they usually stop at a farmhouse. Of course, that’s the most sensible thing to do—for heaven’s sake, it’s winter! On top of that, I think it’s the Winter Solstice [“The darkest evening of the year.”] The horse, now convinced that his master is the most whimsical creature alive, shakes his harness bells, as if to say, “I really don’t know what you’re thinking, master, but don’t you think stopping here isn’t one of your best decisions?” The horse and his master are sharply contrasting characters; while the horse represents practical, common, sort of rustic sense, the poet is clearly a lover of beauty in all its forms, even if it’s monochromatic. If he had his way, he’d spend his time simply watching the snowflakes grace the ground, while the wind howls and kicks up a fuss. In this poem, death is seen as something that is inviting, not something that should be feared; if the poet stays here, surrounded by snow and with only his horse for company, he will freeze to death [he seems to be aware of this, but, strangely enough, seems to welcome Death as a means of escape from harsh reality. However, death is never a way out. Never. You gotta stand and face your problems, rather than turning tail and running. That only gives rise to maudlin sentiment.]

The sound of the horse’s harness bells makes the poet come out of his reverie [in this sense, the horse is his master’s saviour]. That life-saving sound is what makes the poet understand that he can’t just stand there viewing the breath-taking beauty of the woods; the woods are deceptive temptations which will eventually lead to his downfall. He realises that he doesn’t want to die just yet—it’s too soon to even think of dying. The last stanza is my favourite: “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.” The last line is repeated for emphasis; it’s the highlight of this poem. It has two meanings:

1] The poet is simply talking about how he can’t rest right now, as he has a load of stuff to do, people to meet, and duties to fulfil.  Once he’s completed his work, he can rest easy on his little pillow!

2] This is a much deeper, darker meaning— the poet is stating that he has a lot to do before he dies. He holds several hopes, aspirations and unfulfilled dreams in his heart, and he’s definitely not going to die before finishing what he started. Instead of wallowing in grief and self-pity, he’s determined to find solutions to his problems.

Conclusively, this poem, in four brief stanzas, depicts the poet’s rapidly changing mood—from weak, defeated and suicidal to determined and decisive.  Frost was a great lover of beauty and art, but also possessed the horse’s common sense; he knew that he couldn’t just conk out when he pleased. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening killed two birds with one stone—it helped him vent his emotions, and inspired people—especially disillusioned youngsters—all over the world. Whenever I’m feeling low, or daunted by difficult tasks that lie ahead of me, I give myself a mental shake, tell myself I “have miles to go before I sleep”, set my jaw, and plunge into my tasks—emerging victorious. Always. Give it a shot—it works!

That’s all for now. See you next time…

Thank you! I hope you liked my article!