490 and A Like many of Frost's poems, 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' deals with the contemplation of nature. Many readers debate about whether or not the tone of the poem is calm and serene or dark and depressing.
The speaker in the poem is traveling at night through the snow and pauses with his horse near the woods by a neighbor's house to watch the snow falling around him. His horse shakes his harness bells, questioning the pause; perhaps this place isn't on their usual route, or he is curious that there doesn't appear to be a farmhouse nearby. The speaker continues to stand near the woods, attracted by the deep, dark silence of his surroundings. He feels compelled to move further into the snowy woods, but he ultimately decides to continue, concluding with perhaps the most famous lines of the poem: 'But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.'