"Arcturus" Is His Other Name
KENT DUKA
I enjoyed reading the poem The Road Not Taken because it made me think about what messages the author was trying to convey and also because it was easy to relate to.
A traveler comes to a fork in the woods and he has to pick which road he should take. I found this easy to relate to because everybody needs to make decisions in their lives, whether it’s moving country, walking home or which road in the woods to take. The traveler analyses both paths to decide which one has the “better claim”. He chooses the second as it was “grassy and wanted wear” but then goes on to say they were “really about the same”. This was interesting how he did not say they were ‘exactly’ the same even though he later describes “both that morning equally lay/In leaves no steps had trodden black”. I was impressed when I realized what he meant. I realized that no matter how similar two paths are in life, even if they lead to the same outcome, they will never be exactly the same because if I chose to walk instead of drive home, the destination is the same but I will be seeing and experiencing things at a different angle and also at a different pace.
The road in this poem becomes a symbol of life, change and transformation. That is the reason the choice becomes so important for the traveller. He thinks not only about the right way to choose in the forest but also about the right path in life. That is the reason we can feel the switch of the mood by the end of the poem. When the traveller realizes that he will not be able to take another road, left by in the past, he regrets it as lost opportunity. He is disappointed because of the opportunity he missed. He states: “I kept the first for another day!”(Frost) We can hear regret in his tone. Now he realizes that his choice was final and looking at the road he did not choose, he “doubted if I should ever come back” (Frost). By the end of his journey the traveler realizes that each decision we take influences all our further life and
I enjoyed reading the poem The Road Not Taken because it made me think about what messages the author was trying to convey and also because it was easy to relate to.
A traveler comes to a fork in the woods and he has to pick which road he should take. I found this easy to relate to because everybody needs to make decisions in their lives, whether it’s moving country, walking home or which road in the woods to take. The traveler analyses both paths to decide which one has the “better claim”. He chooses the second as it was “grassy and wanted wear” but then goes on to say they were “really about the same”. This was interesting how he did not say they were ‘exactly’ the same even though he later describes “both that morning equally lay/In leaves no steps had trodden black”. I was impressed when I realized what he meant. I realized that no matter how similar two paths are in life, even if they lead to the same outcome, they will never be exactly the same because if I chose to walk instead of drive home, the destination is the same but I will be seeing and experiencing things at a different angle and also at a different pace.
The road in this poem becomes a symbol of life, change and transformation. That is the reason the choice becomes so important for the traveller. He thinks not only about the right way to choose in the forest but also about the right path in life. That is the reason we can feel the switch of the mood by the end of the poem. When the traveller realizes that he will not be able to take another road, left by in the past, he regrets it as lost opportunity. He is disappointed because of the opportunity he missed. He states: “I kept the first for another day!”(Frost) We can hear regret in his tone. Now he realizes that his choice was final and looking at the road he did not choose, he “doubted if I should ever come back” (Frost). By the end of his journey the traveler realizes that each decision we take influences all our further life and