Quiz+for+Snowy+Evening+YJ+(Jenny)+J.

Flat and Round Characters

Although "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is only four stanzas long, and consists of only two clear characters - excluding the mysterious "him" to whom the speaker refers to in the first stanza - there is an example of both a flat and round character in the poem. (Of course, the flatness and roundness would be relative.) Among the two characters, the speaker and the horse, it is established that the horse is the flatter character. Despite the fact that more than four lines are either directly or indirectly dedicated to the horse, the knowledge we gain about the character is quite little. Little body, carriage of harness, familiarity with speaker - these are the only things we learn about the horse throughout the entire poem. The speaker, in contrast, is a rounder character. (Side note: I will refer to the speaker as a "he" as an abbreviation for "he/she.") First, he is speaking in first-person, meaning that he is exposing his own thoughts and emotions. This allows us to see that he is thinking about another character, "he." Being able to know his complex emotions gives much more space to understand him; his situations, his burdens, and even his directions/goals. Second, the words and phrases he chooses in particular to express his thoughts give the readers an idea about what kind of person he is; for instance, the fact that he described the forest as "lovely, dark, and deep" implies that he is a calm character who enjoys tranquility.