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Poetry for Impressionable Gaians: Chapter I |
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Many friends have asked me how I can stand to study / read poetry, since it seems so figurative / impenetrable. Although some poetry, like that of T.S. Eliot, seems to go out of its way to confuse you, my aim is to gradually show you, the reader, that poetry is not as fearful as it seems, and can be understood with just a little effort and attention.
Session One: Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"
I have chosen to begin with a poet whom most people are familiar with. Many people who do not otherwise enjoy poetry look upon Frost's poems fondly. Frost's beautiful imagery and catchy rhyming makes him one of the most-studied poets (at least in schools in the United States), and he is inarguably talented in his poems. Since readers seem to be more comfortable with the familiar, he is my inaugural poet for this series.
Many readers wrongly remember this poem by "The Road Less Travelled," and like to think that the poem encourages us to break new ground, and not to fear doing new things. My goal for this first session is to look at how this poem is misread by many readers, and how you can avoid falling into the trap Frost would like you to miss. Let's take a look:
Quote: The Road Not Taken
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; (5)
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, (10)
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. (15)
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. (20)
Remember, there is no one "right" way to read poetry. However, it's important to pick up on the poet's images.
Discussion: This is not a positive poem.
But, you might ask, I've heard it quoted at graduation services. Doesn't this poem tell us that the less-travelled path is the better way?
Before I explain my view of this poem, I'd like to note an important fact: The poet is lying to you. Notice how he contradicts himself in the second stanza: the path he takes is "just as fair" as the other path, and the two paths have been worn "really about the same."
Stanza three even reveals, point-blank: "both...equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden back." So no one's used either path that day, which means that there's no way of knowing how many people have used either path. So how can he know which path has been less-travelled?
In addition, repetition and self-interruption are not encouraged -- unless the poet wants to make something clear. Frost is an unusually talented poet, so it seems as if lines 18-19 "And I-- / I took the road less travelled by" is unneccessarily repeating itself. But Frost really wants you to look closer at these lines, as well as the final line of the poem, the ever-famous "And that has made all the difference."
This all points to the fact that the poem's speaker knows that he is not being honest with himself or you, the reader. He tries to cover it up, but to no avail! You, clever soul that you are, are onto his wiles!
So now that we've at least learned to question the narrator, let's question how this is misinterpreted by many well-wishing teachers, students, and lecturers.
If the speaker has no real idea of how the two roads differ, how can he tell how different they really are, or even if they end up in the same place?
Why will he be "telling this with a sigh"? Is he sad that he didn't take the other path, or does he wish that he could have taken both, yet realize that it is impossible to do so?
If any other questions come to mind, look back at the text to see if you can find the answers. You're doing well!
Finally: it may seem cliche, but seasons point the final key towards marking poems' moods. You'll note that this poem is set in autumn. Poets, authors of all sorts, and people in general tend to recognize autumn as the time before the "death" of winter. Leaves have fallen, and although the year hasn't ended yet, you can see the signs. I will not leave you with Frost's message, which I encourage you to seek for yourself, but simply ask you to do your best to observe and note what Frost has included in his poetry.
Thank you for your time and patience! I hope this has been helpful to you. Please leave (polite!) comments and suggestions, if it strikes your fancy.
 Ersind · Fri Jan 05, 2007 @ 03:37am · 2 Comments |
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