Imagery

Tropes or figures of speech play an important role in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost because they are the main way of conveying powerful images and messages.

Imagery

Imagery is here understood as descriptive language creating images in the reader's mind. For instance, stanza 3 creates both auditory and visual images as readers can see the horse shaking his head, the snowflake falling, and hear the sound of bell chimes and the wind:

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. (ll. 9-12)

Pay also attention to the attributes given to certain nouns, which also help us better visualize their qualities: “little horse” (l. 5), “frozen lake” (l. 7), “darkest evening” (l. 8), “easy wind and downy flake” (l. 12).

Personification

The horse in the poem is subtly personified as he appears to be thinking an...