Talk:Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is part of WikiProject Poetry, a WikiProject related to Poetry.
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[edit] copyright

can we publish this poem here?

yes, its in the public domain Martijn Hoekstra 15:35, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

It's pretty clearly not in the public domain. Here's one site which uses the poem by permission and cites its copyright information. Here's another, a U.S. Department of State site, that cites the info. DeSales 04:39, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm fairly new to Wikipedia and not interested in risking a "revert war," but did the person who reversed my removal read my talk comment and the links? Where is the evidence that this is public domain? DeSales 22:41, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

AFAIK User:DeSales is right - 3 or 4 lines is probably fair use though... Tomandlu 00:20, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

I looked it up before, and came to the conclusion it was in the public domain, I believe either because the author has been dead for a certain number of years, or because of the copyright had run out for some other reason. I'll try to look it up again, and get some sourced statements here. (By the way, the original question if it wasn't copyrighted was my own. I found that it was public domain soon after, and answered my own question) Martijn Hoekstra 17:22, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
No, it is not public domain. In most cases in the US, copyright expires 50 years after the death of the creator or artist, per Template:PD-old-50. That's 2013 in the case of Frost. The federal government has been busy extending the period that copyright holds so corporations can make more money (see Copyright#United States copyright law), but that thankfully doesn't apply to Frost. - BanyanTree 05:24, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
Make it 2019. The poem was published in 1923 (unfortunately, only works published in 1922 or earlier are in the public domain) and the copyright was renewed in 1951. According to the copyright information in the sites cited above, the right rule to apply is: "1923 through 1963 - Published with notice and the copyright was renewed - 95 years after publication date." So it will enter the public domain in 1 January 2019 (according to note #3 there). -- Gabi S. (talk) 11:25, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] interpretation

It's possible that the repetition in the last two lines suggests that the narrator is drifting off to sleep, perhaps suggesting death by freezing. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.66.137.182 (talk) 06:05, 11 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] OR

Removed the following section, which was marked WP:OR since September. Cite sources if you want to reintroduce the whole or part of it in the article. Tizio 12:50, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

The narrator, travelling at night by a horse-drawn vehicle on the winter solstice ("The darkest evening of the year"). He stops to watch the snow fall in the woods, yet remembers his obligations and, it is assumed, continues home after the end of the poem.
One interpretation of the first line ("whose woods these are I think I know") refers to the woods belonging to God. The next lines ("His house is in the village though/ he will not see me stopping here/ to watch his woods fill up with snow") show his attitudes towards God as an adult, as a callous figure who isn't actually watching.
The second stanza begins with ("My little horse must think it queer/ to stop without a farmhouse near") The horse understands that this isn't the final destination, that they have to press on, even if the narrator has momentarily forgotten in the tranquility. The horse is a symbol of conscience -("He gives his harness bells a shake/ to ask if there is some mistake") Here, the horse understands that if they stay there they will die from the cold, and is urging the narrator to continue.
The narrator refers to the woods with peaceful, tranquil, and restful words. ("The woods are lovely, dark, and deep") He obviously understands the danger of just staying, but is drawn to the beauty. To continue on with life is so difficult, and the woods so peaceful and restful. It is often believed he sees the woods as a final resting place, and may be considering suicide.
However, the poem ends on a different note: ("But, I have promises to keep/ And miles to go before I sleep,/ And miles to go before I sleep")
The narrator is reminded of his obligations, not only to others in his life but to himself as well. And he's reminded that he has a long way to go, not only in his journey home, but because of the emphasis on this line, it's thought this refers to his life as a whole. Basically, he has a long way to travel still before he can die.


this poem has many interpretations, and placing just one on the wiki (especially this one, which i strongly disagree with) promotes a skewed perspective. however, it would be interesting to include multiple interpretations (i.e. beauty is portrayed as a human value rather than having inherent value; the contrast between the horse's view of the situation and frost's own).just a thought. - the seth

I agree with both. An explanation of some undisputed facts is one thing, but that is strongly analytic and definitely not appropriate. 68.39.174.238 23:13, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
Right. Tha main guideline here is WP:NOR: if there there is an interpretation by someone else, and is published somewhere, we may report that with an appropriate citation. An interpretation without a citation that tells who proposed it is inappropriate. Tizio 14:50, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] References

What, no mention of the Charles Bronson movie "Telefon" from 1977? Kar98 15:44, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestion. When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). Martijn Hoekstra 20:42, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

{{itaintbrokensodontfixit}}. Really, is that mention really that necessary? Tizio 23:19, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
And that's why Wikipedia blows chunks. Neither of you offered any actual argument, just the same ol' same ol' templates. In fact you're probably bots anyway and I'm wasting my time answering you two clowns. Kar98 17:21, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Please see Wikipedia's no personal attacks policy. Comment on content, not on contributors; personal attacks damage the community and deter users. Note that continued personal attacks may lead to blocks for disruption. Please stay cool and keep this in mind while editing. Thank you. Tizio 20:18, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pop-cult beats everthing else!

The current character count is:

encyclopedic part: 985
popular culture section: 1496

This is really weird. Do we really need to mention the 132th episode of the "Unknown to everybody" tv series where two words possibly from the poem are partly seen written on a wall for 1.2 seconds? Tizio 16:52, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Interesting stats. I never quite thought about it this way. However I have to point out a few mitigating factors for this phenomenon. First the absence of the poem itself. Due, as you know, to copyright problems we can't include it. If you add the characters of the poem to 985 already counted it will tip the balance in favour of the encyclopaedic content. Second in the absence of the poem verses no meaningful analysis of the verses can take place. If you add the (hypothetical) verse analysis to the encyclopaedic content the balance will become even healthier. Conclusion: It's not the pop culture section that is overgrown, it is the encyclopaedic content that is atrophied due to copyright stranglehold. BTW I checked the trivia section and didn't see the 132nd episode of "Unknown to everybody" tv series. Interesting name for a series ;-). Dr.K. (talk) 18:58, 21 January 2008 (UTC)