Blog Entry #4

Andrea Pereira

Dr. Jason Smith

English 102

September 29^th, 2013.

 

                In San Francisco California, on March 26^th, 1974 a very popular American poet was born by the name of Robert Lee Frost. Frost remained as an unknown until about the age of 40; he is most famous for his realistic interpretations of rural life in England and his use of American speech. Born originally in the California, Frost moved to Massachusetts after the death of his father.  After only little success in the states, Frost decided to sell his farm in New Hampshire with his wife Elinor and move to England in hopes that he would have better luck finding publishers willing to use his work.  In England Frost met Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, the first to be fond of his work (Biography, Web). One of Frost’s most famous poems “The Road Not Taken” was inspired by Thomas’s long walks over the English landscape regarding his indecision and regret debating what path to take (Biography, Web). “The Road Not Taken” was published in 1916. After WWII broke out, Frost moved back to the united States and publishers that rejected him previously wanted to use his work, Frost famously sent them his work that they rejected to publish (Biography, Web).  

                Robert Lee Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” consists of four stanzas of five lines. The poem tells the story of a person who has reached a fork in the road and is debating on which path to take. The speaker is in front of a leafy pathway that leads to two intersections, he is alone and can only travel one way but can’t decide which one to pick (1-4). After all the debating, the speaker chooses a path and the path the speaker chooses seems to be the one less traveled on due to the extra leaves on top of it (6-8). The speaker then thinks more into his decisions and believes that both pathways can be equal, yet he still questions his decision and debates whether or not it was the right path to take (9-13). The speaker realizes that it wouldn’t be a wise decision to go back and try the other path, in other words he knows one road leads to another until you reach a final destination (14-15). The speaker now looks forward in time and speaks of how he chose the road less traveled by and that one decision changed everything (15-20).

                “The Road Not Taken” is a poem based on an individual making a decision that will change their life. The title gives the reader an idea of which decision the speaker will ultimately make. My interpretation of the poem is that the speaker has come across a fork in the road and must choose between one or the other. Frost states that both roads are equally worn and that both have leaves over them. Yet in the last stanza:

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Two roads diverded in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

 

 

The speaker is stating that he will tell people in the future he took the road less traveled by and it changed his life forever. But in fact, the speaker is lying due to what he states earlier in the poem:

“And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black”

 

He is stating that both paths are equal. This leads me to believe that Frost is sending the message that if you choose a path by chance or because it was your decision, it won’t make a difference in your life. In life, making a decision is only an illusion because no matter what choice you make in life that’s just the way it happens. In life everyone has a destiny and it happens because that’s the course our life is meant to happen, not because of any particular reason.

                At first the speaker seems to have an idea as to what choice he will ultimately makes but in the end he realizes both are the same. The speaker is very indecisive which can make the poem a bit confusing to understand and also leads people to have several different understandings of what the poem is about. The idea behind Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is due to Frost’s friend Edward Thomas, and his habit of taking long walks through the countryside (Bestoffrost, Web).  Thomas would take Frost on his walks to show him a rare plant or special view and would regret choosing a certain path due to the fact that Thomas could have chosen a “better” direction (Bestoffrot,Web).

Works Cited

A+E Networks. "Robert Frost Biography." Editorial. Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. http://www.biography.com/people/robert-frost-20796091?page=2.

Frost, Robert. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15717

Thompson, Lawrence. "What Inspired The Road Not Taken." Letter. N.d. What Inspired The Road Not Taken. N.p., Jan. 200. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. http://www.bestoffrost.com/what-inspired-the-road-not-taken/.

 

 

Blog Entry #3

          Robert Frost, born in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1974 was a very popular American poet. Frost is most famous of his realistic interpretations of rural life  in England and his use of American speech. The setting to most of his poems is in New England in the early twentieth century and he uses this setting to examine philosophical and social themes. The poem “The Road Not Taken” was first published in 1916 and included in a collection titles “Mountain Interval.” Out of the millions of poems, I choose “The Road Not Taken” due to the title. The title really caught my attention due to the fact that I like to look at life through the other side, in other words I also like to choose the road not taken due to my curiously and open-mind,. The title reminds me that I would rather make a new path then to be a follower in life.

          When Frost states that there is a “fork in the road” he is speaking about the fact that the speaker has been living life and has came across a decision that can lead the speakers life in two completely different outcomes. “And sorry I could not travel both” signifies the speakers regret. The next line, “And be one traveler, long I stood” signifies the fact that he realizes for a fact the only person that can choose the road is him, no one is around to help in the decision. The speaker then states “And looked down one as far as I could” telling me that the speaker is thinking really hard about what decision to make, he is wishing he can try both but it would be impossible to travel different directions if you are one person. The speaker in other words is the fork in the road. The speaker finally makes the decision of the road equally as good as the other when he states “Then took the other, just as fair.” But then the speaker quickly changes his mind thinking if they are both equal when he states “Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same.” The speaker chooses the second path because it is grassy and seems like the road less taken. He also stresses the fact that he chose the path less taken when he states “I took the one less traveled by” it doesn’t exactly states whether or not he was happy with his decision but he made one and must live with it forever.

          The speaker in this poem is generally speaking about his decision of choosing the road less traveled by. The denotation of yellow wood is a tree, of the legume family, native to the southeastern U.S., having clusters of fragrant, white flowers and wood that yields a yellow dye. In the poem traveler means a person or thing that goes from one place to another; take a trip or journey. The denotation of wear is to cause to deteriorate or change. Trodden signified to set down the foot or feet in walking; step. Diverge means to move, lie, or extend in different directions from a common point; branch off.

          The poem “The Road Not Taken” in my eyes represents the speaker reaching a point in his life that will change forever depending on which road he decides to take.  The speaker debated and debates but finally decides on a road that seems less traveled by due to the grass on top of the road. Taking the road less traveled by makes the speaker question if he is choosing the right option. At first, the two roads seem to be similar options but it seems as if the decision that the speaker makes on whichever road to pick plays a very important role on the rest of his life.

 

http://www.poemhunter.com/robert-frost/biography/

 

http://john-c-evenstar.hubpages.com/hub/Biographical-Analysis-The-Road-Not-Taken

 

http://schmoop.com

 

http://dictionary.com

 

 

 

Blog Entry #2

As I was searching the web for a supernatural poem my first instinct was to find a poem about fairies. Although I couldn’t find a poem that I really liked about fairies, a title caught my eye. The poem I chose was Sex and Blood by Leslie Ormandy. I found this poem on simplysupernatural-vampire.com. The theme of vampires also interests me and I found this poem to be simple and to the point. A person is trusting a vampire to not take it too far as they have an intimate moment. The person is nervous yet they eventually give in letting the vampire take their body.
   

Blog Entry #1

After reading "Original Sin: A Short Story." I immediately began to think of the bible story of Adam and Eve due to the title and the first few lines. “Nodding its head rattling like a gourd” made me think of the snake of the Adam and Eve story temping the speaker to do or think of a bad memory in their past. It also made me think of temptation and death. I felt the story described someone being tempted to do something that was not in their character. The speaker has had a difficult past that was so horrible it resembled death. Lines in the poem make me think that the speakers bad past continuously haunts them such as “Later you may hear it wander the dark house.” The poem also makes me believe that the speaker wants to forget about the sin they have committed but the thought continues in their memory. The line “Or it goes to the backyard and stands like an old horse cold in the pasture” makes me think that no matter what the speaker is doing in the back of their mind the memory lies there and always will haunt them.