Poetry Extra: Stopping By Woods

Original version

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Poetry Extra

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly opportunity for listeners to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

A brand new poetry slot on Radio 4 Extra gives listeners a weekly opportunity to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

Stopping By Woods

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, Stopping By Woods

Kenneth Steven explores Robert Frost's iconic poem, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Daljit Nagra selects ‘Stopping By Woods’ by Robert Frost.   Kenneth Steven visits Vermont to trace its origins.  From 2011.

Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive and selects ‘Stopping By Woods’ by Robert Frost.

The poem 'Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening' was written about nightfall on the shortest day of the year, though it was actually put to paper at dawn on June 21st, 1922 - the longest day. This has always puzzled Kenneth Steven, a poet captivated by Robert Frost's seemingly effortless mastery of rhyme, metre, language and imagery.  

Kenneth Steven visits the poet's home in Shaftesbury, Vermont, now a museum.  He talks to the curator there, Carole Thompson, and a pair of Frost scholars, Lea Newman and David Sanders, and he walks the very woods that are possibly evoked by the horseman who pauses to watch the snow settle, despite having "promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep".  

He makes a pilgrimage to Frost's final resting place in a New England cemetery - his gravestone covered in glinting pennies left by fellow pilgrims - and he reveals compelling new insights into the origins and impact of the poem which Frost himself considered his "best bid for remembrance".  

Producer:  Alan Hall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2011.

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Poetry Extra

Stopping By Woods

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 Extra

About BBC Radio 4 Extra