Poetry has always been my favorite form of literature due to its fascinating ability to reflect extensive ideas within several lines. One of my favorite poets is Robert Frost, whose works are considered some of the best ever written. My love for this poet was born in middle school when we were given the task to analyze his “Fire and Ice.” After that, I continued getting myself acquainted with Frost’s works, and each of them impressed me and inspired me to reflect upon significant ideas.
Inspiration Piece
“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 (Frost, n.d.).
The poem was written by Robert Frost, a famous American poet uncovering important social topics in his works. Frost was highly esteemed by his contemporaries, both readers and critics (Monteiro, 2015). The poem “The Road Not Taken” was written approximately in 1915 in England, where he lived for several years. Even though over a century has passed since it was created, the verse is still highly relevant. The narrator has a difficult choice to make: whether to take the road which many people took before him or to try the one not so widely investigated. The choice made by the author was in favor of the road less traveled by. I think that the essence of this poem is that one should not be afraid of the unknown. Instead, people should try new things because exciting and new things may await them there.
My Art Piece
The Path Not Taken
She stood there, in front of the window
‘Twas hiding the darkness outside
And, neither a bride nor a widow,
She knew not in which to confide
So close were the pain and the fear
So bitter was grief in her soul
She looked at the handle so near
Deciding and choosing her role
Aghast at her own reflection,
She sat on a sofa and prayed
She still had a chance for affection,
So rather than leaving, she stayed.
My poem is about a young girl whose fiancé has just left her. Utterly sad and disappointed, the girl is considering committing suicide. However, upon some consideration, she decides to keep living, thus, taking the “path less traveled” by those who hesitate between killing themselves and starting a new life after a massive depression. I wanted to show that making a seemingly easier choice is not the wisest decision.
Connection
The thematic connection between the two pieces is in the choice each of the heroes has. In Frost’s poem, the narrator was to decide whether to take the road that many people had already discovered or to choose another one and discover it by himself. In my poem, the girl opts for staying alive and not “taking” the road of killing herself and getting rid of her problems. The verse and meter in the two poems are different, but in general, the medium is the same: rhymed lines that evoke the audience’s imagination and inspires them to reflect on the issue discussed.
References
Frost, R. (n.d.). The road not taken. Web.
Monteiro, G. (2015). Robert Frost: The wisest man. The Robert Frost Review, 25, 8-18.