Analyzing Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening in the Perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

【Abstract】： Robert Frost is one of the greatest poets in modern and contemporary literature history in America， and lots of scholars have studied his poems. Metaphor is the soul of poetry. In Robert Frost’s poems， metaphor has widely applied， Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening， which is a typical example. With the aid of metaphor theory， this paper focuses on the functions of metaphor， and sticks closely to the core metaphor， “l(fā)ife is a journey”. What’s more， this paper also discloses the functions undertaken by that core metaphor in the progress of the text and its connotations， which is conducive to further appreciation of the implications of this poem.

【Key words】： Robert Frost； Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening； Metaphor

【摘要】：羅比特·弗羅斯特是美國現(xiàn)當(dāng)代文學(xué)史上一位重要的詩人， 關(guān)于他的詩歌，目前學(xué)術(shù)界已經(jīng)做了諸多研究。隱喻是詩歌的靈魂，在弗羅斯特的詩歌中，隱喻大量被應(yīng)用，《雪夜林邊小駐》就是一個典型的例子。借助隱喻理論，這篇文章著眼于隱喻的功能，緊緊圍繞“人生即旅途”這一核心隱喻。這篇文章還揭示隱喻在詩歌語篇的發(fā)展、內(nèi)涵的推進(jìn)中所起到的作用，并以此為基礎(chǔ)進(jìn)一步理解詩歌所蘊(yùn)含的深層次的哲理思想。

【關(guān)鍵詞】：《雪夜林邊小駐》；隱喻

1.Introduction

Robert Frost （1874-1963） is a poet whose Poems begin with description of simple events， but usually end in profound connotations far beyond the description of the specific events. This skill of expressing universal significance of truth through specific description of some particular events is typical of Robert Frost’s style. A careful reading of his poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening will show a great deal about his style. In this poem， metaphor has extended from the word to textual level， and this paper makes a brief analysis on its function in discourse organization and textual cohesion of the whole poem.

2.The use of discourse metaphor in poems

As a context， a poem is one unity with kinds of parts organically connecting together， and metaphor can also be regarded as a contextual use， so metaphor plays an important role in a poem. In Metaphors We Live By， George Lakoff and Mark Johnson discuss about metaphorical coherence and propose that a metaphor is not just a simply word， but always a context， although this context is long or short. From the standpoint of context， metaphor is not only considered as a rhetorical phenomenon or a cognitive phenomenon， but also as an important method of organizing a poem’s context.

In Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening， it focuses on “l(fā)ife is a journey” and shows what a traveler sees and hears. Robert uses simple words and bases on his real life’s experience to express a profound significance， for teaching readers about life’s truth， which is an example illustration of “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”

3.To analyzing the poem by metaphor

3.1 The meanings of the images

For transmitting information consistently to readers in the poem， Robert uses some concrete and familiar things to explain some abstract concepts， or the village， the woods， lake， little horse， etc. The man stops by woods because he sees the warm and comfortable house and village which are attractive to him while going trip on a cold and rugged road. At the coldest and the darkest night， the traveler is confused and helpless， which symbolizes the poet’s complex and contradictory feelings during that time. Wandering at the cross of helplessness and hopefulness， the travel is lost in the woods---the poet is lost in life. At this time， a frozen lake occurs before the travel’s eyes， and the lake gives him a kind of tranquil sense， which in contrast to the stir of society. He has fall in love with the quiet woods， then “my little horse must think it queer， to ask if there is some mistake”， the horse warns me that “I must have my promises to keep”. Here， the horse means the poet’s inner self who urges the poet to keep going ahead， and the word “promises” means the poet has some responsibilities to do what he has not finished. These all vividly describe the poet’s complex and contradictory thoughts.

In the last two sentences， the poet says “and miles to go before I sleep， and miles to go before I sleep.” Here， “sleep” is a metaphor and means “death”. These two repetitive sentences symbolize the poet’s great determination to go on in life and in his career， which is actually Robert Frost’s spiritual pursuit. The two sentences are also main sentences in this poem.

Robert uses the metaphorical thought to think about his life. And for a metaphor， there should be a source field and a target field， and the relationship between them can be a epistemic correspondence（關(guān)系對應(yīng)）（孫亞， 1893： 78）， therefore， the whole poem describes a travel’s trip literally， but in fact， it reflects the process of Robert’s writing， the following is the skeleton of this poem：

Source field： a trip Target field： a process of writing

The beginning of a trip ------→ the beginning of writing

House， woods， and lake， etc. ------→ temptations from outside

The stopping by woods ------→ the crisis in career

Promising to keep ------→ calling from responsibility

Miles to go -------→ the continuation to write

These metaphorical signs echo with “l(fā)ife is a journey”， and the simple source words make the metaphorical concept， or the process of writing， concrete and vivid hence that draw forth an abstract philosophical thought.

3.2 The “woods” image from Robert Frost

In fact， Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is about the process of the poet’s writing， in the poem， the image of “woods” is a key focus. The word “wood” is a metaphor with a literal and a metaphorical sense， in early literary works of comedy， woods symbolize endless sources of lives， for example， the image of woods in Shakespeare’s comedies. But in tragedy， woods symbolize a forest with evils and darkness， such as， in the beginning of Dante’s Inferno， the woods mean evils. In some tragic works， there are some wild forests or trees of death.

In many Frost’s poems， like After Apple-Picking and Birches， etc， woods have multiple metaphorical senses， and through analyzing the prototype of woods in his poems， we can know clearly about the poet’s natural views and profound meanings and that how the poet uses natural things to express his inner thoughts.

Lots of critics think that the theme of this poem is death’s calling， and the poet enters the beautiful scenes hence that wants to die by himself. But for me， “the woods are lovely， dark， and deep”， and the words “l(fā)ovely， dark and deep” are positive， so the woods which symbolize sealed beauty is deep and lovely. When entering deep woods， what the first thing comes to one’s mind is not a calling of death， but a sense of confusing directions. In order to walk out these woods， the poet must go ahead by several steps， but while coming into it the poet may lost in direction.

Now， seeing the “woods” again， for the poet， it is a temporary， what’s more， is a warning. At last， Frost chooses a road untraveled， and he doesn’t feel pity or considers the chosen road is right or wrong， because a life is full of all kinds of chooses， and chooses mean differences. He ever felt faltering， but now has promises to keep： determines to work on writing poems in his whole life.

4.Conclusion

This poem likes a beautiful music which is easy to evoke readers’ emotion and resonance. Robert Frost is well-known as a New England farmer poet， and these profound poems give readers a kind of spiritual share and enlightenment. The poem uses metaphor theory to show philosophical significance through layer upon layer analysis of the words， meanwhile， it combines the poet’s experience to analyze the plentiful meanings of the image of woods， or these woods are not only temporaries， but also warnings. As a poet， Frost bravely faces the difficulties in life and unswervingly works on poems’ creativity， so finally， gets rid of the lost destiny and fulfills his left obligations.

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