For Arguments Sake: What is the speaker's promises to keep and why is out in the darkest night of the year?"
To work on all this new terminology and make my opinion clear I thought I would contribute more to the class discussion and the debate about this poem. Personally, the speaker in this poem seems to be procrastinating his journey home, and is fighting with the temptation of the snowy woods. I know this temptation seems vague, but in a metaphorical since he does have an issue and is trying in some way to figure it out. For instance, when stating, "Between the woods and frozen lake. The darkest evening of the year," the speaker could be referring to a difficult issue he is experiencing or debating with, and the snowy woods good be his saving grace per say. If we are going in-depth snow could be what is saving his fight with temptation, and be coving up what doubts he maybe having about going home, and instead of going in the "tempting" woods. Therefore, back to my main question, "What is the speaker's promises to keep?" He states, "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep," and I generally think he has an obligation, to maybe a family, that he needs to get back to. The woods maybe lovely and tempting to him, but he made a promise and he intends on keeping that promise to get back to them, for he states the ending line twice. "And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep," as if he is reassuring himself that he has promises, or maybe just giving himself a gesture that he knows it will be a while before he gets to sleep. Just something to think about!
"Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night."
-Robert Frost
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