stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening翻译及赏析.doc

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening[雪夜林边小驻]
Whose woods these are I think I know, 我知道林子的主人是谁，
　　His house is in the village though. 虽村落是他所居之地。
　　He will not see me stopping here, 他不会看到我停留于此，
　　To watch his woods fill up with snow. 凝视他的林子雪花纷飞。
　　My little horse must think it queer, 我的小马一定以我为怪，
　　To stop without a farmhouse near, 近无房舍，为何停伫。
　　Between the woods and frozen lake, 况只有林子与冰湖，
　　The darkest evening of the year. 和一年中最黑之夜。
　　He gives his harness bells a shake, 他轻摇铃具
　　To ask if there is some mistake. 询问有错与否。
　　The only other sound's the sweep, 唯一的回复来自，
　　Of easy wind and downy flake. 软雪和清风。
　　The woods are lovely, dark and deep. 林子很美——昏暗而幽深，
　　But I have promises to keep, 但我已有约定。
　　And miles to go before I sleep. 沉醉前还有一段路要走
　　And miles to go before I sleep 沉醉前还有一段路要走。

1
Summary:

On the surface, this poem is simplicity itself. The speaker is stopping by some woods on a snowy evening. He or she takes in the lovely scene in near-silence, is tempted to stay longer, but acknowledges the pull of obligations and the considerable distance yet to be traveled before he or she can rest for the night.

Form:
The poem consists of four (almost) identically constructed stanzas. Each line is iambic, with four stressed syllables:
Within the four lines of each stanza, the first, second, and fourth lines rhyme. The third line does not, but it sets up the rhymes for the next stanza. For example, in the third stanza, queer, near, and year all rhyme, but lake rhymes with shake, mistake, and flake in the following stanza.
The notable exception to this pattern comes in the final stanza, where the third line rhymes with the previous two and is repeated as the fourth line.
Do not be fooled by the simple words and the easiness of the rhymes; this is a very difficult form to achieve in English without debilitating a poem's content with forced rhymes.

Commentary:
This is a poem to be marveled at and taken for granted. Like a big stone, like a body of water, like a strong economy, however it was forged it seems that, once made, it has always been there. Frost claimed that he wrote it in a single nighttime sitting; it just came to him. Perhaps one hot, sustained burst is the only way to cast such a complete object, in which form and content, shape and meaning, are alloyed inextricably. One is tempted to read it, nod quietly in recognition of its splendor and multivalent meaning, and just move on. But one must write essays. Or study guides.
Like the woods it describes, the poem is lovely but entices us with dark depths--of interpretation, in this case. It stands alone and beautiful, the account of a man stopping by woods on a snowy evening, but gives us a come-hither look that begs us to load it with a full inventory of possible meanings. We protest, we make apologies, we point to the dangers of reading poetry in this way, but unlike the speaker of the poem, we cannot resist.

The last two lines are the true culprits. They make a strong claim to be the most celebrated instance of repetition in English poetry. The first "And miles to go before I sleep" stays within the boundaries of literalness set forth by the rest of the poem. We may suspect, as we have up to this point, that the poem implies more than it says outright, but we can't insist on it; the poem has gone by so fast, and seemed so straightforward. Then comes the second "And miles to go before I sleep," like a soft yet penetrating gong; it can be neither ignored nor forgotten. The sound it makes is "Ahhh." And we must read the verses again and again and offer trenchant remarks and explain the "Ahhh" in words far inferior to the poem. For the last "miles to go" now seems like life; the last "sleep" now seems like death.

The basic conflict in the poem, resolved in the last stanza, is between an attraction toward the woods and the pull of responsibility outside of the woods. What do woods represent? Something good? Something bad? Woods are sometimes a symbol for wildness, madness, the pre-rational, the looming irrational. But these woods do not seem particularly wild. They are someone's woods, someone's in particular--the owner lives in the village. But that owner is in the village on this, the darkest evening of the year--so would any sensible person be. That is where the division seems to lie, between the village (or "society," "civilization," "duty," "sensibility," "responsibility") and the woods (that which is beyond the borders of the village and all it represents). If the woods are not particularly wicked, they still possess the seed of the irrational; and they are, at night, dark--with all the varied connotations of darkness.

Part of what is irrational about the woods is their attraction. They are restful, seductive, lovely, dark, and deep--like deep sleep, like oblivion. Snow falls in downy flakes, like a blanket to lie under and be covered by. And here is where many readers hear dark undertones to this lyric. To rest too long while snow falls could be to lose one's way, to lose the path, to freeze and die. Does this poem express a death wish, considered and then discarded? Do the woods sing a siren's song? To be lulled to sleep could be truly dangerous. Is allowing oneself to be lulled akin to giving up the struggle of prudence and self-preservation? Or does the poem merely describe the temptation to sit and watch beauty while responsibilities are forgotten--to succumb to a mood for a while?

The woods sit on the edge of civilization; one way or another, they draw the speaker away from it (and its promises, its good sense). "Society" would condemn stopping here in the dark, in the snow--it is ill advised. The speaker ascribes society's reproach to the horse, which may seem, at first, a bit odd. But the horse is a domesticated part of the civilized order of things; it is the nearest thing to society's agent at this place and time. And having the horse reprove the speaker (even if only in the speaker's imagination) helps highlight several uniquely human features of the speaker's dilemma. One is the regard for beauty (often flying in the face of practical concern or the survival instinct); another is the attraction to danger, the unknown, the dark mystery; and the third--perhaps related but distinct--is the possibility of the death wish, of suicide.

Not that we must return too often to that darkest interpretation of the poem. Beauty alone is a sufficient siren; a sufficient protection against her seduction is an unwillingness to give up on society despite the responsibilities it imposes. The line "And miles to go before I sleep" need not imply burden alone; perhaps the ride home will be lovely, too. Indeed, the line could be read as referring to Frost's career as a poet, and at this time he had plenty of good poems left in him.

2
This poem is written by the American poet Robert Frost whose works are mostly concerned with nature. In this poem, he describes a little incident happening in a snowy evening. As a traveler, the poet is fascinated by the beautiful scene in the woods. He stops to enjoy it, but his mind urges him to go on, because there is still a long way ahead of him, an unfinished duty waiting for him. This poem is plain in words, but profound in meaning. Since it is full of symbolic constructs, it is thought- provoking, and the readers can get great fun in developing the subtext.
　　In the first stanza, the poet leads us to a piece of beautiful woods filled up with snow. As we all know that the woods are usually linked with myth, the unknown world, and the utmost tranquillity. We can guess that, in this poem, the poet takes the woods as the eternal life, the bliss, that is to say the Heaven. He is fed up with the routine duties, and wants to rest forever. The woods happens to provide an ideal place.
　　Then it comes to the snowy evening. “It is the darkest evening of the year.” The snow is cold and the evening dark, all of which indicate that the poet is depressed inside. His subconscious wants him to stop, but his “little horse” with the inspiring bells, which is actually a symbol of vitality, urges him to go. In the second stanza, the poet uses “frozen lake” to denote death. Why he transfers the embodiment of death from the beautiful “woods” to the deadly “frozen lake” is because the point of view has changed from the poet to the little horse.
　　In the third stanza, the little horse wonders why the poet stops when he should have go on. Only “the easy wind” and “downy flake” answer it with soft sweep. We can imagin the scene: the “downy flake” is so light and gentle that it flies in the soft wind. Thus we can get the idea: the poet’s answer is as slight and uncertain as the flakes, because he himself doesn’t know why he stops suddenly in the woods.
　　Toward the end, the poet comes back from the illusion. Though the woods are attractive, he must move on, because he has promise to keep. “The promise” could be an obligation or a goal. One cannot die before fulfilling one’s dream. The poet uses “sleep” to represent death, just as we usually do.
　　In this poem, Robert Frost discusses the relation between mortal obligations and the eternal rest. One leaves no regrets after he dies, as long as one has reached his goal.

3
In the poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” the speaker stops by some woods on a snowy evening and absorbs the lovely scene. The speaker is tempted to stay longer, but acknowledges that he has obligations and a considerable distance to travel before he can rest for the night. The speaker talks with a tone of satisfaction, but at the end of the poem shows a tone of fatigue or tedium. The mood of poem, devotion, appears in lines fourteen and fifteen.
The poem offers a great deal of imagery, such as dark, deep woods in line thirteen that are being filled with large amounts of snow pouring from the sky in line four, and house in a small village, again the snow coming down, except this time on the roof the house, in line three. Also, a frozen lake, let it be big or small, with the sky darkening fast, in lines seven and eight. In the third stanza, a horse is shown shaking the bells on his reigns, as if to call the attention of the speaker, to inform him that he must have made a mistake.
The poem consists of four almost identically constructed quatrains. Each line has iambic tetrameter. Within the four lines of each stanza, the first, second, and fourth lines rhyme. The third line does not, but it sets up the rhymes for the next stanza. The rhyme scheme is as follows: a,a,b,a;b,b,c,b. For example, in the second stanza, lines five through eight, queer, near, and year all rhyme, but lake rhymes with shake, mistake, and flake in the following stanza. The only exception is the last stanza in which the third line rhymes with the previous two lines and is repeated as the fourth line, therefore the rhyme scheme: d,d,d,d.
This poem speaks of wanting to enjoy the pleasures of life, such as watching woods fill up with snow, but then it concludes with the speaker acknowledging that he has work to do, and one can assume that he proceeds on to do it. The poem seems to be stating that it is all right to enjoy the special moments in life, but if one makes a promise, he should not compromise it with the things he enjoys, even if the activities seem better than working.
4
Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is by far one of my favorite works of modern poetry. The pensive, unhurried mood of the poem is reflected with a calm rich imagery that creates a vivid mental picture. The simple words and rhyme scheme of the poem give it an easy flow, which adds to the tranquility of the piece. Every aspect of the poem builds off the others to put the mind into the calm of a winter evening. The first stanza of the poem is rather simple and provides the basis for the imagery. It mentions the woods and implies that they are located away from town and civilization his house is in the village though. It also shows the easy pace that speaker is taking, having plenty of time to simply watch the falling snow. As I think about them, the words of the first stanza are not overtly somber, they do however through their order and the way they were chosen create a rather pensive mood. The second stanza provides a more in depth view of the imagery sketched out in the first; it also provides a more definite time and location. The first two lines of this stanza firmly place the reader rather deep in the woods and away from any dwelling. He is so far out in fact that his horse is puzzled by his actions. The next line gives a better image of the scene Between the woods and frozen lake; it seems to be a rather quiet and lonely place. The next line then provides that it is night and very dark, either emotionally or actually. I think that Frost intended to make that line rather ambiguous The darkest evening of the year, It can either be taken literally as the most lightless night, or it can be taken as the night of the darkest emotions. I think that it is a combination of the two, a dark moonless winter night in which the speaker experiences some form of depression or loneliness. The third stanza of the poem brings the strangeness of the situation to a head. The only other living being in this cold lonely landscape, the speaker's horse takes action to find the reason for the odd stopping. The noise from the inquisitive harness bells provide contrast to the quiet of the scene, where the only other sounds a wind and snow. The descriptions of the sounds provide a little insight to the speaker's mindset and position. He is so still that he can here the soft fall of the downy flake and hear the movement of the easy wind. This also shows a great calm and patience that the speaker must posses. The final stanza of the poem brings all the sentiments of the poem together, an intense love and awe of nature, a never ending patience and some unknown task or problem that robs the speaker of rest. The dark and deep woods seem to reflect the speaker, his dark emotion and depth of character. There stillness also contrasts with the need of the repeated closing lines And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep. These final lines represent the problem that has plagued the speaker and that is most likely responsible for his dark mood. It is something that is undefined that does not demand a rush to deal with, but is important enough to demand attention. The poem as a whole, is a simple effigy of a quiet thoughtful night. I can easily relate to the poem, the emotions it describes and the way that the images are presented. The careless ease with which the poem is read is vital to the poem as a whole. Also this is my favorite poem, I didn't have to open the book to remember it, only to see its format a