The Woods and a Song

 

 

 

                                       The Woods and a Song

 

                       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.

These are the famous four lines taken from Great Poet Robert Frost                   ( 1874-1963 )famous book  “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".

I have read years back, that Jawaharlal Nehru have kept on his bed side

this book of poetry , specially underlining the above four lines. And that the last two lines were marked boldly and kept in his Study.  Perhaps he must be remembering before he slept the dreams he had to complete and slept eternally,  remembering those last lines ! 

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet and a most revered literary figure. He was a Pulitzer Prize winner for his writings four times.

‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ is easy enough to summarise. Frost passes some woods one evening during winter, and tells us that he thinks a man who owns the woods lives in the village some distance away. So the owner will not notice Frost stopping by to observe the snow falling upon the trees.

Next, Frost tells us that his horse probably thinks it odd that its rider has chosen to stop here, with no farmhouse around. What, surely they can’t bed down for the night here? As if registering its disbelief, the horse shakes its harness-bell as if to prompt an explanation from Frost. Everything else is silent around them, apart from the soft wind and the slight sound of snowfall.

Frost concludes ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by telling us that, lovely, dark, and inviting as the woods are, he has prior commitments that he must honor, so he must leave this place of peace and  tranquility and continue on his journey before he can sleep for the night.

Frost died in 1963 at the age of 88, whereas Nehru left us in 1964 when he was 75 . The poem Frost wrote at a stretch in a night of1922 and was published an year later,  reminds us the reader,  the song has completed  one hundred years ! 

John F. Kennedy, the most famous late President of United States was an ardent admirer of Frost. Frost got an invitation from the President to recite this poem on his inaugural speech and ceremony . However, he could not as the hot rays of Sun that fell on the draft paper prevented him from reading the Poem. Instead he recited from memory another poem he wrote two decades back, ‘The Gift Outright’. It said, ” Before  we belong to this country, this country belonged to us”.

Kennedy was more impressed on this poem earlier too, true to his commitment and dedication to the Nation. And this event and the presence of a poet has become a practice thenceforth at the inaugural ceremonies of future Presidents of USA!

Two Giants of men, nay three; the world is poorer by their absence !

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