The Road Not Taken--Poetry Analysis

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. The Road Not Taken is about the paths and choices we make in life. Whether young or old, we still have important choices ahead of us.  The poem is specific.  Two paths made which are very important to the traveler.  The Traveler wants to go down both, but cannot and so must choose.  From a religious stand point these could be seen as the turning point in a persons' life.  A point where they either choose to do good or bad. The Traveler ended up choosing the better choice because he traveled the path less traveled which to him made him happy. Others might not be happy with this idea but this Traveler was and made that choice as we all have to choose in this life.

Homework this week

For those of you who did last weeks blog:
Read and annotate Acts 1-3 of Hamlet. I will be checking your annotations to make sure you read it.
You can find the script here: http://www.william-shakespeare.info/script-text-hamlet.htm
You can also blog this week for extra credit if you so desire.

For those of you who DID not post last week:
Blog analyzing every line of Hamlet's Soliloquy on death from Act 3 Scene 1
Essentially you're doing the same assignment we did last week, just with this instead of a poem of your choice. Review the instructions from last weeks assignment if you have questions. And don't forget to comment:)
- Read and annotate Acts 1-3 of Hamlet

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

Robert Frost "Nothing Gold Can Stay" analysis

1.Nature's first green is gold,

2.Her hardest hue to hold.

3.Her early leaf's a flower;

4.But only so an hour.

5.Then leaf subsides to leaf,

6.So Eden sank to grief,

7.So dawn goes down to day

8.Nothing gold can stay.

1. In the first line of the poem Robert Frost is speaking of new borns and how they are like gold.
2. Right here he is saying that the precious babys wont last forever.
3. Her early leafs a flower, a young girl blooming into a mature woman.
4. It doesnt last long, but only so an hour.
5. Now she is getting older and is soon to leave the house of her father.
6. Eden sank to grief, which could be related to when Adam and Eve left the garden of Eden, as Eden sinks to grief so will the parents of a child who has to leave the house.
7. This line means that now life must go on.
8. Nothing gold can stay means that children grow old and leave and parents grow old and die it happens.

Poem Analysis

The N**** Speaks Of Rivers

By Langston Hughes

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers

Line:

1.  Rivers in this poem I think represent the slavery in history.

2. Further elaborating about how rivers are intertwined with slavery in history.

3. He talks about how his soul has grown deep like the rivers. Maybe because he is depressed?

4-6. In these lines he is talking about his race as a whole and how they have been a major factor throughout history.

7. This line is similar to the previous lines except it is more personal. It talks about how when Abe Lincoln went to new orleans the mississippi "sang" and the muddy bosom turned into "a golden sunset" which is talking about how he took out slavery and "transformed" the south.

8-10. It describes here how the rivers "In my interpretation" have become ancient and dusky like the times when his race had equal rights.

     When Langston Hughes wrote this poem, he was on a train headed to Mexico riding along the Mississippi River. He wrote this poem in a time when racial injustice was very prominent in America. Langston uses rivers as a metaphor for slavery throughout history and he speaks about how Abe Lincoln turned it around and turned it into a sunset.

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud

          That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

          When all at once I saw a crowd,

          A host, of golden daffodils;

          Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

          Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

          Continuous as the stars that shine

          And twinkle on the milky way,

          They stretched in never-ending line

          Along the margin of a bay:                                  10

          Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

          Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

          The waves beside them danced; but they

          Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

          A poet could not but be gay,

          In such a jocund company:

          I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

          What wealth the show to me had brought:

          For oft, when on my couch I lie

          In vacant or in pensive mood,                               20

          They flash upon that inward eye

          Which is the bliss of solitude;

          And then my heart with pleasure fills,

          And dances with the daffodils.

                                         

In the first line of the poem Wordsworth uses a simile to compare his wandering to that of a cloud. Later on in the stanza he write the there are daffodils “fluttering and dancing in the wind” which helps create a vivid image in the mind of the reader. In the first two lines of the second stanza the daffodils are like the stars of the Milky Way in how they “shine and twinkle”, this is a great comparison because the Milky Way is filled with almost count less stars and helps create a feel for how massive the field of daffodils is. As the stanza continues it reads “Ten thousand saw I at a glance” which again repeats the idea of how many daffodils are present. The third portion of the poem reminds the reader the of the location of the field being by a lake shore reaffirming part of the first stanza. The line  “A poet could not but be gay” helps set the tone of the poem as a pleasant and enjoyable one. The last stanza of the poem talks about how Wordsworth often lies on his couch in poor mood then “They flash upon that inward eye, Which is the bliss of solitude, And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils”, this ending of the poem is referring to his mood being lifted by him recalling the daffodils in his mind. 

R.F.

A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill

First Stanza: We are to find joy in every circumstance, whether the flowers smell good or bad
                   Live in the moment, not worrying about what the future holds
                   Rest in the fact of not knowing what is to come, feel a sense of peace knowing you don't have
                   to control it
                   As we face the "rebirth" of a new year, a clean slate should provide a sense of refreshment

Second Stanza: Find joy even when we can't see the good clearly. When everything seems blurry, focus on
                        the present good in front of you
                        Give thanks at day, gives thanks at night - any time of day, just give thanks
                        Join in rejoicing with others, "buzzing" with excitement to everyone
                        Constantly growing in joyous harmony

Third Stanza: Find joy when things feel rushed, when life becomes full of demands that whiz by
                    Past the easy, everyday life of relaxation, when things become hectic
                    Even when the unexpected times in life strike
                    Or when life just seems like it's at a standstill, when you think all is perfectly fine

Fourth Stanza: Finding joy always is true love for life and a life for God
                      This true love should be pointing to God alone - no other
                      We will not know who God will deem worthy of eternity with Him, only He knows
                      However, we must continue to live and find joy for and in Him at all times

Above is my interpretation of A Prayer in Spring. Analyzing pieces of literature, for me personally, is the best way I can summarize what is being said. So, that's what I did with this poem by Robert Frost (I hope this is okay Mallory - I understand it best by doing it this way). If I had to put my finger on what thing in particular that Frost was implying through A Prayer in Spring, it would be that he desires for himself, and others, to live in the present. Although this has become a cliche task it seems, Frost makes a good point. The utilization of imagery, simile and diction dilutes the cliche feel of the theme. Frost's flowery diction grabs and holds the readers attention, while making the poem sound pretty simultaneously. The vivid imagery he uses goes hand-in-hand with the diction as well; Frost makes it easy to visualize the places and scenes he's writing about. Using simile within the poem helps readers to imagine a comparison - so, basically, Robert Frost provides many literary techniques to aid the reader in understanding his theme of "present-day joy always" in A Prayer in Spring.

Commentary on "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

Line by line analysis

 -The narrator is in the woods; they do not belong to him though.                                                                                                 -He is alone and far from civilization.                                                                                                                                                   -He does not want to be seen, he wants to be alone.

 -The woods are peaceful, relaxing and tempting.    
 -Something isn't right...                                                               
 -They don't belong there, they should be somewhere else.
 -The woods, while peaceful, are still cold. 

 -Not only are the woods cold, they are dark too.
 -His horse "wakes" him from his daydream.
 -His horse plays the part of his conscience by warning him.  
 -He is still distracted by the solitude of the woods. 
 -He is spell-bound by its tranquil peace.
 -He wants to stay...
 -But he knows he can't, he has responsibilities.
 -He has much to do before he can rest.     
 -He emphasizes this, perhaps to further convince himself.
 

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.

-Robert Frost

     Robert Frost used several techniques in his poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". He chose techniques such as, diction, imagery, repetition, personification, onomatopoeia, and symbolism. The woods are a symbol in themselves. They represent solitude, temptation or escape. On the other hand, the village symbolizes civilization or security. The woods to the narrator are a means of escape from the responsibilities of everyday life. The darkness and cold of the woods only seem to entice him. The horse, as opposed its master, does not want to be in the woods. This is when personification comes into play. The horse was personified once when Frost says that he "think[s]" (5) and again when he "ask[s]" (10). With words like, "sweep"(11) and "easy"(12), the author adds diction to the poem. Through the use diction and imagery, Frost created a scene that was inviting yet eerie. Frost cleverly used repetition at the end of the poem. By repeating the last line, he was showing that the narrator wanted very badly to stay and lose himself in the woods, yet he knew he couldn't. He had to repeat this to remind himself of the responsibilities he had elsewhere. The theme in this poem seems to be temptation. The narrator becomes so tempted by the dark, lonely woods that he considers leaving all responsibilities behind.  

p.s.   I am sorry that the set-up may be confusing. I have had a lot of trouble with this computer and this was the best I could do.