Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.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.
Today was a good snow, a well-behaving snow; light and fluffy and easy to brush off the car. It is quite pretty when it is not turning into ice. If all snows were as eager to please as this one, I should not mind winter quite so much.
This Robert Frost poem was one of the first I ever had to memorize for school. Do children still have to memorize and recite poetry? In spite of my crippling shyness, reciting poetry was always enjoyable for me- not a reflection on who I was or where my talents lie. Just the poetry- “language is fossil poetry“, Emerson said- flowing through me.
Looking back, I suppose I was the only one who felt that way. The other kids were just hearing me recite a poem, like every other kid in the class, but I always felt like I was channeling something ancient and lovely. Something deep and powerful.
How do you feel about poetry? Will it too pass away in this new, non-romantic age?
Yes, poetry is passing away in the world. It makes me sad because I finally got a good introduction to poetry in my senior year of high school and I started really liking it then. I still don't know enough poetry at all, and I thought a long time ago that I didn't like it. My senior year English class changed that! No, we don't still have to memorize poetry, not at all. It's as if poetry is a foreign language to schools nowadays.
What a strange world we live in, where poetry is something we can't seem to connect to anymore.
P.S. I have internet now finally! Time to work toward getting that travel blog set up.