Miles to Go Before I Sleep

I'm taking a poetry class this semester, which gave me a great idea. Once a week, I'm going to put one of my favorite poems on my blog and talk about why I like it. So, this week, the poem is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. This is a poem I think a lot of people are familiar with. I love it because of its simplicity. Frost uses wonderful imagery in his poems and it makes me feel like I'm in the place he's describing. The poem has a peaceful tone, but also has an underlying serious feel to it. I love the opening line because the word order is so interesting. Frost could have just said, "I think I know whose woods these are," but instead, he changes up the sentence structure and turns it into something that's eloquent and beautiful. This poem also makes me laugh a little. Not the poem itself, but because of a story my AP Literature teacher told my class my senior year of high school. When she was in undergrad one of her classes discussed this poem, and a girl in her class was convinced that it was about Santa Claus. Now, I don't think this poem is about Santa at all, but that's one way to interpret it I guess. So here's the poem. I hope you get pleasure out of reading it.

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.