Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost- Rodgers

And no one shall say, "Poems are boring," with this illustrated version of Robert Frost's classic. Readers will read this poem again and again, finding new nuances with every reread.

Just the title and cover alone can stop readers in their tracks and force them to ponder stopping in these snowy woods! Why would anyone stop in the woods on a snowy evening?

A man stops in the dark and snowy woods to watch nature's beauty. He knows the owner of these woods, but he also knows that the owner is away in the village, and won't ever know a traveller stopped to watch the snow drop. 

The narrator pulls attention to his what his horse might be thinking as he stops in the middle of nowhere! In fact, two of the four stanzas of this poem are about what his horse must be thinking during this man's impromptu journey.

Even though the horse questions the journey, the only sounds he receives in return are the quiet sounds of nature, upon the "darkest night of the year."

The traveller remarks upon the joy of nature that he has found on this night, without a soul in sight. 

He must, to his dismay, return back to where he belongs. With this comment, the traveller enters back into reality, and children are pictured played in the corners of the illustration.

Reading this poem alone will create vivid pictures in your mind. Reading this book, however, will leave you reading again and again, asking more and more questions like... who is this traveller, and where was he going? What promises might he speak of? What might the woods have offered him that a village could not? Why was he alone? 

This illustrated poem by Susan Jeffers does everything a poem should do. Her illustrations do not box you in to one stroy, but rather give you more opportunities to ponder and discuss the heart of this poem by Robert Frost. A true classic!