Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

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"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem written in 1922 by Robert Frost, and published in 1923 in his New Hampshire volume. Imagery and personification are prominent in the work. Frost wrote this poem about winter in June, 1922 at his house in Shaftsbury, Vermont that is now home to the "Robert Frost Stone House Museum." Frost had been up the entire night writing the long poem "New Hampshire" and had finally finished when he realized morning had come. He went out to view the sunrise and suddenly got the idea for "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." He wrote the new poem in just a few minutes and later stated that "It was as if I'd had a hallucination."

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was Frost's favorite of his own poems and Frost in a letter to Louis Untermeyer called it "my best bid for remembrance."

The poem is written in iambic tetrameter in the Rubaiyat stanza created by Edward Fitzgerald. Each verse (save the last) follows an a-a-b-a rhyming scheme, with the following verse's a's rhyming with that verse's b, which is a chain rhyme.

[edit] The poem in popular culture

The poem is frequently cited in popular culture; for example:

In season 2 of Mutantx there is an episode titled "whose woods these are" a reference to the first line of text.
The last stanza of the poem (with an alteration of the wording) was recited in Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino's segment from Grindhouse.
This poem is frequently referenced in Dean Koontz's 2007 novel The Darkest Evening of the Year. The title of the book is a line from the poem and the last four lines of the poem are displayed in the section headings of the book. Furthermore, certain events which take place in the book seem to be inspired by the poem, such as the events Amy experience in the snowy woods at night.
The final verse of this poem plays a prominent role in the 1977 film Telefon, acting as a post-hypnotic trigger for sleeper KGB agents in the United States. It is also the closing voice-over comment of the 2003 movie 16 Years of Alcohol.
In the Degrassi: The Next Generation episode Time Stands Still Part One, when practicing for the quiz, Mr Simpsons asks for the last line of this poem.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was greatly influenced by this poem that he kept beside him in his office.^{[citation needed]}
In The Sopranos Season 3, Episode 2, Meadow helped explain the meaning of the poem to AJ, who was studying it for his class.
project pat recorded a song, 'Miles to go (Before I sleep)'.
The last line was referenced in "The Prom" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The final verse was referenced in the episode Cry your name from the second season of Roswell.
On an episode of the Simpsons, Krusty the Clown dumps a pile of snow on top (cartoon) Robert Frost while he was reading this poem.
In an episode of The Muppet Show (the one guest-starring Arlo Guthrie), Fozzie Bear attempts to read the poem to the audience, but Gonzo intercepts the reading with random tango dances.
In a cartoon by Jeff Mallett,published Sunday 10 February 2008 in the Los Angeles Times, Frazz does a delightful play on the poem's last lines.
In the movie Dreamcatcher based on a book by Stephen King, the alien that inhabited Jonesy's body recites the last few lines of this poem
In the book "The Talisman" by Peter Straub and Steven King, Jack references the last stanza while talking to Richard, adding on 'and you are still an utter creep'.