Newsletter – Tradition – December 23, 2022

After reading “Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” I once had a first-grade student who said, “Dr. Williams! I know exactly what’s happening, here! You told us that between December 20th and 23rd is winter solstice. That’s the longest night of the year, and it’s right by Christmas. This is a guy who is trying to make it home to his family in time for Christmas. It’s snowy, so it’s definitely wintertime. The horse is even wearing harness bells- like the Jingle Bells song!”

Never once had I considered this poem a Christmastime poem. Today, I’m certain that six-year-old boy was right. Never undersell your kids and the things they understand.

Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

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.