The poem begins with the narrator regretting that he had not been able to take both paths instead of being forced to take just one to one. This person looked as far as he could to see what was ahead on both of the roads he could have taken, but he could only see as far as where the path turned and disappeared in the underbrush. In the second stanza the person says they took the other road because it was grassy and wanted wear but, it was not much more worn than the other road. The third stanza says both of the roads were covered in leaves and had not been walked on frequently. This was to the extent that the leaves covering them had not been made black from the feet of other travelers.
Robert Frost uses a walk in the woods as a metaphor for making a decision in life, a situation that people face daily. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (1), each road starts from the same place, but may lead to two entirely different destinations and the traveler has no idea where those destinations may be. Not sure which path to choose, and afraid of making the wrong choice, he compares the two roads, much like humans do when debating a choice, weighing out the pros and cons. Many times, people tend to choose the easy way out. The path that is traveled more often has a predictable outcome that keeps one inside their comfort zone, even though it may not be the most beneficial choice.
________________________________________ Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim,2 Because it was grassy and wanted wear;3 Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, Summary, Stanza 2 The speaker selects the road that appears at first glance to be less worn and therefore less traveled. This selection suggests that he has an independent spirit and does not wish to follow the crowd. After a moment, he concludes that both roads are about equally worn. And both that morning equally lay, In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Pollan then goes into the problems of gardening as a genre of literature. He stated in the article, “Yet the deeper I got into gardening, the more problematic, and less charming, I found the limitations of the genre to be. […]I was getting a lot of British advice and it simply didn’t apply to my patch of ground […]. […]. Yet most of the books on the garden shelf, even those written by Americans, continue to hold up the traditional border as gardening’s highest achievements […].” Pollan then talks about how most authors on the gardening subject neglected to write about basic gardening operations such as digging or planting, “Everybody seemed to jump right from wintertime sketches and plans to the glorious blooms of July.” Pollan then moves into talking about some of the problems that he was running into with his garden, “[…], there turned out to be a lot going on in my garden that the garden books never addressed.
That's a good starting point for any discussion of the importance of imagery in literature, we'd say. From there we might go one level deeper, and explore the nature of these images, and what they mean on a symbolic level – yes, quite deep. If we were talking about Shakespeare, say, or The Great Gatsby, this would keep us busy for days and days. But Christopher isn't so interested in that, so let's stay focused here for a second. He goes out to the garden and describes what he sees, and hears, and smells, concluding, "But I couldn't smell anything.
This is why the speaker takes his time thinking which path to choose because not only is he concerned about which road to take but also which path in life is the correct one. There could be more than one correct road but in reality you only choose one. When the speaker finally chooses a path automatically it can feel the mood changes because the speaker knows that it will not come back to be able to take the other path, left by in the past. The character then regrets its missed opportunity. In the beginning of the poem when the traveler is introduced for the first time he has to make a decision of what road to take.
He does not show any outward sign that he is grieving too much over the death of his brother, but traces of his sadness could be seen in the times when he recalls memories of his brother, “the baby cooed and rocked the pram” and “lay in the four foot box as in his cot”. Heaney delivered the poem shrouded in mystery. His introduction in the first stanza does not give the audience a clue about what would happen next. It had a relaxed, happy tone, and gives us the impression that he had all the time in the world to spare. This was shown by the act of “Counting bells knelling classes to a close”, making the first stanza seem to last a long time.
Which path is the right one? While the man looks down both paths, he notices one is grassier than the other, but both had leaves on them, so no one had been by that day. Since he was the first to come upon the two roads, he did not have anyone to follow, so the choice was completely up to him. The alliteration of the line “Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (as cited in Clugston 2010) brings the focus on that path, so the reader is already thinking he will chose the grassier road. According to Thoreau’s Color Symbols, grass and green mean birth and growth (as cited in Coyler, 1971) once growth and birth are recognized, a sure sign of spring, I am lead to believe that main character wants to have a new beginning in life; and that is why he did indeed chose the grassier path.
This says to me that he is constantly evaluating his thoughts on love and that things in his life may have changed to where he no longer wants the song to appear to be about just him. The poem begins with Dylan thinking about a past love, one he has not seen in many years. “Early one mornin' the sun was shinin', / I was layin' in bed / Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all If her hair was still red.” / Her folks they said our lives together / Sure was gonna be rough / They never did like Mama's homemade dress / Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough. This first verse feels like he is telling a story of a first love, a dramatic type that is against the wishes of their parents. It doesn’t say if they ever started a life together or not, but for the rest of the poem it does not matter.
Egl 102-08 November 26, 2012 Tennyson’s Ulysses: A Closer Look When first reading through Alfred Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses”, the reader may think that this is simply a poem about an old king getting ready for another journey. Many critics say that Tennyson’s poem was his own way to grieve over the loss of his best friend and attempt to move forward. However, on further examination of the poem and Tennyson’s character, Ulysses, it becomes apparent that Tennyson draws inspiration from Homer’s “The Odyssey” and Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” as well as from his own personal experience. In his poem, “Ulysses”, Tennyson created a character who believes he should be travelling the world and seeking knowledge, not sitting around waiting for death to come for him. In creating this character, Tennyson uses character traits from Odysseus of “The Odyssey” and traits from Ulysses in “The Divine Comedy”.