Poet of the Month / July, 1999

Born in San Francisco in 1874, Robert Frost was one of America's favorite poets.   He became interested in reading and writing poetry when he was in high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts.   He was enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1892.   His first professional poem was "The Butterfly" and was published on November 8th, 1894 in the New York newspaper, The Independent.   In 1895, Frost married Elinor Miriam White, who was his inspiration in poetry writing.   He was the most celebrated Poet in America.   He has authored many poems on dark meditations and universal themes.   He was one of the first modern poets of the twentieth century. He taught and lived in Massachusetts and Vermont.   He died on January 29, 1963 in Boston.   His writings included: A Boy's Will, New Hampshire (1923), A Further Range (1936), and In the Clearing (1962).

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;

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.

[1110, 990627, mgonzalez01]

Message 1112
Re: The Road Less Taken by Robert Frost:
mgonzalez01 (36/F/New Jersey) 06/27/1999 11:40 pm EDT

My interpertation of "The Road Less Taken" by Robert Frost, is that there are two roads which one can take in life: the Easy Way or the Hard Way. Life is a gamble...an unpredictable journey, but each of us has to risk the uncertainity that lies ahead. We must choose the Road Less Taken regardless of all the bad things that await us through our journey. We must take chances in our lives to prove to ourselves that we are strong!

~Mary~

Message 1114
Re: The Road Less Taken by Robert Frost
TheCyberWitch (50/F/San Diego, CA) 06/28/1999 01:36 am EDT

Everyone has choices. A person can decide to stick to the tried and true path way, and get on with their life in a conventional manner, or can step off of the path into another direction. Once that person steps off of the path, he may find that others have stepped off also, and gone in the same direction. And the person may never be able to get back on the familiar path or may never want to go back.

Emma :o)

Message 1117
The Road Less Taken (Another Look)
AngelPie_Mouse (na/F/Los Angeles, CA, USA) 06/29/1999 09:22 am EDT

There is a small irony in the selection of this particular work as introduction to the poet, Robert Frost. I had chosen the work as an introduction to my discussion on the differences between Canada and the United States on the road to independent sovereignty for my own web page discussion of "Canada Day and Independence Day" several months ago. Applying the "yellow wood" as a metaphor for the North American continent and the common beginning of both nations in one land, it is not difficult to see how the poem would lend itself to this discussion.

However, I came to an impasse in attempting to answer the seemingly smug assertion concerning which country had taken the road "less traveled by." Is war and revolution really the less traveled byway? Or, is the process of peaceful negotiation and political distancing the path often overlooked? Certainly, the world has known considerable armed conflict in the name of freedom, too much bloodshed for liberty though some following their own political agendas would argue that it has still not been enough. Yet, given the history of the British Empire, the more peaceful process followed by most of its former colonies Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, The Bahamas, et cetera--it would seem that the U.S. has the greater claim to having taken the road less traveled. Then, again, perhaps, it is merely that some one of the colonies had to be first, to set precedent; that in twice attempting to stave off American independence in costly and bloody conflict, the British saw the writing on the wall when it came to its other colonies. The case may be made for both views and therefore my quandary.

One goes back to the poem and notes that Frost himself suggests contradiction:

Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, [lines 9-10]

He is not saying that the less traveled road is an untraveled one, only that the passage on one of them appears to have been less frequent, which we can certainly hope would be the case when it comes to outright war. But this interpretation hinges on the popular view of the poem only, that there is some suggestion that one road is "the easy path," "the tried and true" while the other, more romantically, suggests "marching to a different drummer," " forging one's own path." Patently, that is not in the poem.

Frost does not make that value judgement concerning the two roads diverging from the single one followed to this spot in a yellow wood. That is: just because many have passed along the other way, does not mean that path is easier or less arduous or even more comfortable there may be just as many stones in the road, there may be just as many heartaches. One cannot know what lies ahead on either, and he does not offer that one way is better than another. What he does say is: "I shall be telling this with a sigh [line 16]." The sigh of regret? Of remorse? A description the very human tendency of employing hindsight: "if only I had known." The idea that regret might follow at some point in the future seems to negate any notion that one road is superior altogether. Instead, what is here, in the closing lines, is:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. [lines 18-20]

To me, the poem hinges on the single phrase "and I" at the end of line 18, which describes the hesitancy of decision. This is in fact what the poem seems to be about: accepting the responsibility for our life choices, our decisions. It is these choices which make "all the difference."

AngelPie_Mouse

[1162, 990706, mgonzalez01]

My particular favorite poem by Robert Frost (and some people will recognize the reason) is "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." Oddly, I was not always alone in my appreciation; it was also the favorite poem of John F. Kennedy.

[1164, 990706, AngelPie_Mouse]

Before the month ends, we still have time for one or two more poems by this month's Poet of the Month. One well-loved favorite is "Mending Wall," which explores--sometimes whimsically--the nature of walls and the breaches they develop. But I come too close in this description to revealing my own interpretation of the poem. The real question is: what does this piece mean to you, even if it is not a first read?

[1294, 990727, AngelPie_Mouse]

Message 1115
Read More About Robert Frost
AngelPie_Mouse (na/F/Los Angeles, CA, USA) 06/28/1999 07:57 am EDT

The following URLs come from the listing of FAMILIAR AND FAVORITE POETS on our own website (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Bistro/2298). We invite you to check them out and read more about Robert Frost (also, please let us know if you have any difficulties with these sites).

• A Frost Bouquet
  Robert Frost, His Family, and the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature - exhibit of Frost manuscripts, editions, and his family magazine Bouquet.
• Celebrating Robert Frost
  An International Conference - provides a wide panorama of scholarship on Frost.
• Discovering Robert Frost
  Lesson plan for introducing the works of the poet in the classroom.
• Frost in Cyberspace
  A web site introducing Robert Frost to a new generation.
• Robert Frost in Three Volumes, &c.
  The complete works to December 1920. From Project Bartleby.
• Robert Frost [redfrog]
  Collection of poems by Robert Frost. Visitors may register poems and thus enhance the collection.
• Robert Frost Discussion Port
  A message board and live chat devoted to the life and work of Frost.
• Robert Frost in the Atlantic Monthly
  Publishing background includes audio of recordings.
• Robert Frost: The Development of a Poet
  
• Robert Web Page, The
  

Here is a discussion of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7086/990714.htm

[1234, 990718, mgonzalez01]

(Site referenced is Daily Poetry Break, a frame site that links directly to other sites for text and information. The actual source is: Robert Frost in Three Volumes which is referenced above, part of the Bartleby Project.)