Midsummer Essays (1380 words) - Robert Frost,

Midsummer COMPARISON OF: ROBERT FROST'S ?STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING? AND ?ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT? Robert Frost's poems ?Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening? and ?Acquainted with the Night? seem to be ordinary poems at first glance, but after an in depth look at these works and how they relate, they become much more. Frost seemed to keep a tone of mystery throughout each of these poems, never actually telling the reader exactly what was going on. By the same token, the poems gave off sense of darkness and gloom just adding to the mystery of what lies ahead. Neither of the characters in these poems seem to be very happy which also augments the gloomy mood of these poems. The characters in these poems also appear to be on some kind of journey, but are reluctant to go ahead and find out what fate has planned for them. A sense of obligation is also present in these poems, an obligation which must be fulfilled, whether the character likes it or not. More easily seen is the mystery in each of these poems. Frost keeps the reader in suspense by never telling the reader what exactly is going on, but just touches on what might be going on. And to make things even more mysterious, he gives you hints, and leaves the reader with a lot to think about in these poems. In ?Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,? Frost exhibits this fairly clearly when his character mentions in the first line of the poem ?Whose woods these are I think I know/His house is in the village, though;/He will not see me stopping here.? These first three lines set a mood of dishonesty, as if the character is not supposed to be there, but it's all right for now because the owner doesn't know he's there. This little hint pops a question in your mind, ?What exactly is this guy doing?,? hence the mystery. Frost once again sets the mood for mystery in ?Acquainted with the Night,? by making known the presence of authority when his character states, ?I have passed by the wa tchman on his beat/And dropped my eyes unwilling to explain.? The character seems to be feeling guilty, or afraid of the authority figure and drops his eyes to the watchman because of this. But why would he feel guilty or afraid? Again, a mysterious hint. Also projected by these poems is a sense of darkness, which goes hand in hand with the mystery in these poems. The titles of these poems alone suggest darkness. Let me ask you one question; what time of day is the most mysterious? Of course the ?Evening? or ?Night? is the most mysterious time of day. But Frost does not stop here in emphasizing darkness in these poems. ?The darkest evening of the year.? This selection from ?Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening,? amplifies even more the sense of darkness in these poems. Why is this evening ?the darkest of the year Night is night no doubt. But what makes this evening so dark? Is it so dark because the cloud cover from the snowfall is blocking out the moon and stars, desecrating the available light? If this is true, then how could there be enough light to ?watch his woods fill up with snow,? to see that there is ?[no] farmhouse near,? or that ?the woods are lovely, dark and deep Maybe it is not that the evening is dark in the sense of ni ght versus day, but maybe it is a personification of how the character feels. Perhaps the character has hit a low point in their life and this is why the character describes the night as ?The darkest,? i.e. the lowest or saddest, ?evening of the year.? From ?Acquainted with the Night,? Frost's character mentions, ?I have outwalked the furthest city light.? When the character states that he have ?outwalked the furthest city light? it projects a very strong and large sense of darkness. During the night, the brightest light may be from a city, and to ?outwalk? this strong light, the character must walk very far, hence, ?furthest.? Immediately after this line, the character says ?I have looked down