A Green Study: An Observation of Nature and Mankind Throughout Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Nature is a realm where unimagined and undiscovered things inhabit. It is obvious that nature has a lot of surprising things which all of us, human-beings do not know about. Since the beginning of time when the universe was made, there has been a connection, relationship and interaction between nature itself, and men. These things mentioned are things which cannot be separated from both nature and men. Human-beings, who are staying in this universe, do take a lot of advantages from nature ā and sometimes they do things which harm the nature. It may be true that we, human-beings do not realize that we harm nature ā even though sometimes, we do.
In this paper, the writer will do an observation of a poem by Robert Frost ā a pretty well-known poem using Eco-criticism perspective. The title of the poem is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and through all the lines, Robert Frost uses a lot of words which are connected to nature. This poem shows about a situation where someone stops by a farmhouse with his little horse, but finds out that the farmhouse is abandoned. The farmhouse is made of woods and since it is abandoned, the woods are covered with snow. This poem uses a lot of words that are connected to nature and the writer believes it is a good poem to be analyzed using Eco-criticism.
Talking about Eco-criticism, it is clear that Eco-criticism is about nature and mankind. It is a way to see how the perspective of mankind about wilderness and how they think they are superior and more than nature. According to Glofelty (2001), eco-criticism is observed as the relationship between nature and culture and eco-criticism connects the human and the non-human creatures. So, in eco-criticism, thereās no such thing as human world or realm of nature in eco-criticism (in other words, the universe is not separated). Therefore, the writer will be discussing about how human and non-human creatures are connected. Stanton (Nurgiyantoro, 2009: 70) states that theme is the main idea and the main goal of a literary work. So, what is in theme, is usually what the work is going to convey to the readers.
Eco-criticism is known as a green study which is a connection with human and non-human creatures. Thus, it has been applied in many literary works which show some aspects of nature and man. In this paper, the writer will elaborate about how eco-criticism occurs in the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, mainly about how nature takes a really important role in humanās life and how humans need to treat nature the way they treat their lives. From the poem, the writer found 6 words which are connected to nature:
Ā Ā From these words, we can see that there are attributes of nature which are used by Robert Frost for this poem. Since the writer wants to analyze the poem deeper, the writer will be analyzing the poem from stanza to stanza:
Whose woods these are I think I know. Ā
His house is in the village though; Ā
He will not see me stopping here Ā
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
Ā Stanza 1 above, from eco-criticism perspective shows how āIā wants to watch the woods, but firstly he thinks about someone whose house in the village, that may be far from the place āIā stops by, because in line 3 itās said āHe will not see me stopping hereā ā so he decides to stop for a while, seeing the woods covered with snow.
My little horse must think it queer Ā
To stop without a farmhouse near Ā
Between the woods and frozen lake Ā
The darkest evening of the year.
Stanza 2 tells that the man who stops by is accompanied by a little horse of him and that horse finds it odd because they stop by between the woods and a frozen lake without a farmhouse nearby. The last line of stanza 2 states that itās really dark since it is evening and the word darkest may refer to the reason why āIā stops between the woods and frozen lake in the evening, with nothing to do, but stare. If it is dark then the ability for human and a horse to see is reduced and with the lake which is frozen, they cannot drink water from there.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other soundās the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
In stanza 3, the āheā refers to the horse because itās connected from the first line of stanza 2. The horse finds it odd why āIā stops in the woods and the horse gives a shake of his bells to āIā if there is a mistake, but thereās no answer from āIā because the only sound thatās heard is only the sweep of wind and flake.
Ā 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.
In the last stanza, which is stanza 4 the author shows how āIā is in deep desire to stay in the woods or even enter the woods which are dark and deep. But since it seems that there are promises that he needs to keep and do, he is not able to stay. āIā also still has a long way to go, which is to the house of the man mentioned in the first stanza. This is where he stops looking at the woods and throw away the amazement and leave.
From the elaboration above, the writer will divide it into different things which the writer finds and believes to be true. The things are: (1) Dualistic separation of human from nature, (2) A demand to return to a monistic belief, (3) Primal identification and (4) Ecosphere.
2.2.1Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Dualistic Separation of Human from Nature
Dualistic Separation of Human from Nature happens in the poem in the second Stanza which is āMy little horse must think it queerā. If this line is observed using the perspective of eco-criticism, the āIā thinks that he is different from his horse and he is being superior from his horse or in other word anthropocentrism, since animals only have instinct while āIā is a human who has a brain to think, so they wonāt think that itās queer or odd to stop between the woods and frozen lake (if they know what they want). Ā This line really separates how human and nature are different, showing that humans are superior ā cannot be compared to any non-human creatures. It is also obvious that in stanza two, there are lines like āTo stop without a farmhouse nearā and āBetween the woods and frozen lakeā which is unusual for a horse to stop, since there is nothing to do there, he cannot rest or even drink water. But for āIā, it is not something odd, but something that he might have been dreaming of, to stop in a woods covered with white snow.
Ā Ā 2.2.2Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā A Demand to Return to a Monistic Belief
The demand to return to a monistic belief is seen in the poem in the last stanza, where the āIā says āBut I have promises to keepā and āAnd miles to go before I sleepā. The āIā which is actually in love with the woods actually has to go and cannot stay for too long in the woods. The āIā states that the woods are lovely, dark and deep as seen in stanza 4, first line, but since he has promises to keep, which may refer to the person mentioned in the first stanza, the one who has the woods, whose house is in the village ā the āIā has to leave the woods to do the commands that the person in the first stanza to the village. This is indirectly forcing the āIā who wants to see how beautiful the woods are and wants to stay, leave the woods and go to do the demand. On other words, this makes the āIā to have oneness or singleness concepts in his mind.
2.2.3Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Primal Identification
Primal Identification found in the poem is where āIā thinks of the woods as something lovely. By saying that something is lovely, it simply means that āIā likes the woods and this brings a proof to the writer that the primal identification of āIā is rising. Humans are originally living alongside with nature long time ago and this means that we were once one with nature. Humans dwell in nature, survive in nature, rest in nature, etc. āIā in the poem seems to realize that he himself is from that place, but now everything has changed and he cannot do anything about it.
2.2.4Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ecosphere
Ecosphere is an interaction between human and nature which is emphasized. In this poem, it can be seen that the only and the most obvious interaction when āIā stares at the woods and wants to stay in the woods longer even though he cannot. Staying in the woods and staring at how beautiful they are seem to be the interaction that āIā is having. This interaction may seem odd, but deep inside from āIā, it does have a deep meaning about how he interacts with the woods.
Ā 2.2.5Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Outdoor Environment
1st wave of Eco-criticism: Love and adore the woods
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Spend time staring at the woods
This poem contains a really simple message that it wants to tell the readers. The theme suitable for this poem would be āNature can never be separated from humanās identityā. Human-beings may have developed and changed as time goes by, but still the identity inside our true beings is that we once lived alongside nature and the place we are living now is the picture of the āmodified natureā. We may see a different view from what it used to be, but there is nothing to forget that our ancestors were once one with nature. It is very simple that human will not be able to survive without nature and we sometimes feel like nature is the best place to relax, which is true. Since living in this modern-era, humans have been lying to themselves about the identities they are having and itās killing them inside. The first human-being, Adam, was created from dust of the ground and when we, humans die ā we will also return to what we were once made of.
From the discussion which is elaborated above in chapter II, the writer has made a conclusion regarding the discussion above. First, humans cannot deny that they do believe that they are more superior in many ways rather than nature since humans can think and can do actions while nature itself seems to be calm. It is a way of thinking which has been implanted into the human brains from long ago. Second, humans do prioritize other humans rather than having their time spent with nature. Humans tend to think that nature is unimportant, so they misunderstand the role of nature which to provide earthly needs to us, humans. Lastly, humans tend to forget that they are from nature and will come back to nature when they die. As we all know from holy books that the first human that was ever created by God was from dust of ground. This shows how we humans are connected to nature and how we are going to be back there when we blow away our last breath.
In conclusion, nature and humans are two things which can never be separated no matter how much humans try to place a barrier in between. Humans have been living and relying on nature, while nature also needs humans to take care of them without destroying them. Without the good cooperation, the relation between humans and nature will be broken. Thus, it will lead to destructions such as Biodiversity Extinction and Overpopulation.
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Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecocriticism
FamilyFriendPoems http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening-by-robert-frost
