In the Robert Frost poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," how does the rhyming help contribute to a theme of suicide?

A common interpretation of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is that the poem is in contemplation of death, or at least the finality of death. Some critics who subscribe to this view take it a step further and claim that the poem is contemplative of not death in general, but suicide in particular. Frost denied this interpretation on several occasions; however, the interpretation persists, and many readers believe that a theme of suicide is woven into the poem.

In addition to the dark imagery found in the poem, such as the lines, “The darkest evening of the year,” and, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” some critics point to the rhyme words in the poem as creating a lonely and melancholy feel. Some critics claim that part of what contributes to the melancholy feel of the poem is that the ‘o’ rhymes in the first stanza create a sense of loneliness. Another contributing factor may be that at least one rhyme word in each of the stanzas is negative or indicative of cold in some way. These words are “snow,” “queer,” “mistake,” and “deep,” as well as maybe the repetition of “sleep” in the final two lines. This melancholy coupled with the pejorative and/or cold words may lead some readers to conclude that the speaker is depressed and contemplating the final sleep of death, which is deep and cold, as a solution to the speaker’s depression.

In addition to the above, the rhyme most cited as pertaining to the idea that the poem is about death in general or suicide in particular is the repetition of ‘sleep’ as the end rhyme in the final two lines. This repetition is seen as Frost using "sleep" to mean more than just sleep. The repetition, it is thought, plays on the euphemism of referring to death as a final sleep. Some critics even point to the fact that each stanza has at least one line with a final word with a long ‘e’ sound as an indication that Frost wanted the reader to focus on words with a long ‘e’, especially “deep” and the repetition of “sleep” in the final stanza. Given the emphasis on the word “sleep”, the interpretation is that it must mean more than just actual sleep. And when this idea of sleep as death is joined with the imagery and tone of the rest of the poem, it shows that the speaker is thinking about suicide but decides that he has things to do (i.e. “miles to go”) that keep him from employing this final solution.

There are likely other analyses of the rhyme scheme in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” that could contribute to the idea that suicide is a theme or the main theme of the poem. However, one thing to keep in mind with this poem, as with any poem, is that the poet’s job is to evoke an emotional response from the reader. The poet may intend a certain response, but readers may have different responses based on what the words and imagery in a poem mean within their own experiences and understanding of the world. In other words, attempts to analyze the rhyme scheme as supporting the idea that suicide is the theme of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” may only be meaningful in the context of a particular person's interpretation, not in the construction of the poem itself.