Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the style of Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. A lot of work has been done on this poem in the domain of literary criticism but very little or almost no comprehensive research has been conducted yet, to find out the stylistic features. So, the present study focuses on the use of stylistic devices. Each level has been studied deeply and comprehensively, by looking at the choice of language at phonetic, phonological, graphitic, semantic and grammatical levels. It has been concluded that Frost used a number of stylistic devices including cacophony, alliteration, assonance, tone modulation, denotation, connotation, metaphor, personification, symbolism, and imagery to highlight the idea of dismay and death. The repetition of certain words and choice of mental process verbs like think, see, know, and watch leave a significant effect on the mind of readers. It has also been found that, Frost tried to show the responsibilities and duties of human on this earth, which everyone has to perform. Furthermore, he portrayed the short life span of human to perform all these duties, which finally result in state of depression and anxiety. So, the present study is significant as it will help the reader to understand the author’s point of view stylistically on linguistic basis rather in the domain of literary criticism.

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