Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

SATB and piano

As someone who grew up in the Midwest, I understand completely how transfixing it can be to witness a quiet snowfall.  It can make you forget things you need to momentarily forget and remind you of the beauty of the natural world.  For me, Robert Frost’s iconic American poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” perfectly captures this. But I also love how ambiguous Frost treats the final stanza—we don’t know what those promises are or where there those miles will take the speaker of the text—and how he allows us to fill in those things from experiences in our own lives.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening was commissioned by the Hopkins High School Concert Choir during the time it was conducted by Philip Brown, but premiered by its subsequent director, Katie Irvin.  It is dedicated with love and gratitude to the former, and received its premiere on December 17, 2019.

The Text

By Robert Frost (1874-1963)

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.