Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Title: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Author: Robert Frost

Illustrator: Susan Jeffers 

Genre: Poetry

Awards: None

Age Group: 4th-8th grade

This poem by Robert Frost is seemingly simple. Upon first glance, it is about a man who admires someone's woods as snow is falling on the darkest night of the year. After spending some time there, he must return to his responsibilities. There are many interpretations as to what this poem means. Many believe that there is a dark them of death throughout, especially because of the reference to the "darkest evening of the year" and the ending line "and miles to go before I sleep", which is repeated twice. This is thought to represent going through life and finally, death. The woods seem to hold a dangerously appealing trance on the man, who knows there is something else he should be doing. This makes the reader question the role of the woods in the poem.

What an interesting poem this is! Short, "simple", yet so many unknowns remain. I would only use this book in the classroom if I taught upper elementary, as this poem does have some seemingly dark elements to it, and it is not so easy to analyze. It is not intimidating, though, and has captivating illustrations, which would make it a great read aloud and would certainly invite a good discussion.

Like I mentioned before, this poem is probably not for younger kids. I would say 4th grade on up would be appropriate. I capped it at 8th grade, but I think it would be fine to use in high school, even. There are many things in this poem that the students could analyze, such as why the pictures are only partially in color, the rhyme scheme, the use of repetition, and the symbolism.

As for some lesson plan ideas, I would do a close reading activity on this poem to delve into the meaning and structure of the text. I found a worksheet on Teachers Pay Teachers that has a 3-step process for summarizing, analyzing, and describing the poem. This would work especially well for upper elementary!