without

One of my favourite poems is Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening:

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I first read (or heard) the poem when I was a kid, even before it was part of my curriculum in the 7th or 8th grade (thanks to my elder brothers having recited it several times when they were studying the poem in school). The poem is so serene, yet metaphoric, but as a kid I guess I just enjoyed the rhyme, and the famous last 4 lines. Given that the poem is really short I could recite it easily. Growing up in a crowded and temperate city like Bombay , I never really experienced a "snowy evening" or even "stopping by the woods".

Also, I found it very interesting, that the word "without" could mean "absence of" or it could also mean "outside" (opposite of within); both these meanings would be relevant in this poem. Did Frost suggest that the horse thinks it strange to stop with no farmhouse close by, or that it was strange to stop outside the farmhouse when it was snowing? In fact, we had two English professors teach this poem to us in school, and one of them said it meant 'absence of' and the other suggested it meant 'outside'. I think it means outside in this case, esp. because it would be queer for a horse only if it knows that there is a farmhouse near by.

PS: Isn't the English language is rather strange?! Shouldn't you be frugal at spending if you are a spendthrift! Here is an explanation why it is not.