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Examining Frost

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Examining Robert Frost’s Poem:
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
William R. Spicer, Jr.
ENGL 102 Composition and Literature
April 23, 2012

Examining Robert Frost’s Poem: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening has been my favorite poem since the fourth grade. Mrs. Brown, my English teacher, discussed the poem during the week before Christmas break. The entire school was buzzing with excitement at the upcoming holiday and when she introduced the poem, it seemed like everyone and everything slowed and we were transformed to a quite snow-covered forest. The question I chose to answer is about the symbolism in the setting of this poem. In our text a symbol is defined as a person place or thing in a narrative that suggests meaning beyond its literal sense. The simplistic setting represents the author’s need for peace, rejuvenation and a reminder of home, before he starts out again on his journey. Few places can be considered as comforting and peaceful and lovely as a familiar forest covered in snow. Since the writer was not afraid of being alone I believe he must be very familiar with the forest and probably grew up near it. The wood behind my house was a very special place for me. In the summertime it was a place to build forts and have adventures with my friends. On cool summer nights, it’s where my friends and I would pitch a tent and tell scary stories by flashlight. My family and I would go on hikes and discover a new place to pick wild blueberries for a pie my mother would bake that evening. Before the age of computers and cell phones, nature was where we learned about life. It was where the world would stop and we could imagine, dream and pray about the past, present and future. Before the author’s next journey, he is drawn to the quiet serene forest where he can contemplate his life’s journey up until this

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