"Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost demonstrates the struggle between a world of serenity and one of social obligations. The speaker, on horse back in the countryside, has stopped between a frozen lake and the woods to watch them fill up with snow. He is caught between the longing, dark, deep woods and moving on to his other responsibilities. Eventually, the speaker hints he will move on to his promises yet still warrants an emotion for the woods left behind. Frost uses progressing sounds and symbolism to explore the pull of a world of pleasure and one of obligations and promises.

Using progressing sounds Frost creates a world of sleepiness, but with an underlying alertness in the speaker to move on. At first, these sounds are slow and give a restful feeling: "To watch his woods fill up with snow" (4). The `w' and...