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. 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. |
Word OrderThe order in which the very first line is composed in somewhat odd. The speaker questions whose woods these are, but then immediately contradicts himself by saying he knows whose they are. If one knows something, one does not "think" that they know it.
In the third stanza the speaker talks about how his horse shakes his harness bells. Of course this would make a sound, yet he contradicts himself yet again when he says the "only" other sounds are from the wind and the downy flake. Yet again there is a contradiction in the final stanza in the first line. The speaker talks about the woods and calls them "lovely, dark, and deep." This is odd because dark normally has negative connotations and to couple it with the word lovely which is associated with positive connotations is strange. These contradictions and paradoxes are extremely important to the underlying meaning of the poem as they help to highlight and distinguish the importance of the speakers mixed feelings. He is confused and indecisive, but in the end shifts his viewpoint to one of confidence and determination "and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." |