The vague characterization in “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” is used to encourage a moment of still reflection on the world. This is arguably a simple message and the narrative “plot” is nothing more than a man taking a minute to look into some woods. But the importance of the message comes from this simplicity and its universal character. The overwhelming pull of obligations and "[having] promises to keep" (14) echoes the sense of necessary separation from society from time to time, but also the brevity with which this separation can take place. Due to the simplistic nature of the poem, it is possible to connect to the narrative voice on a personal level, transferring your own parallel emotions to the poem to give it greater meaning and thus complementing the depth of the poem that comes from the relationship with