The Robert Frost Thread

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

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.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

The Most Misread Poem in America
David Orr/The Paris Review
9/11/2015

"Frost’s poem turns this expectation on its head. Most readers consider “The Road Not Taken” to be a paean to triumphant self-assertion (“I took the one less traveled by”), but the literal meaning of the poem’s own lines seems completely at odds with this interpretation. The poem’s speaker tells us he “shall be telling,” at some point in the future, of how he took the road less traveled by, yet he has already admitted that the two paths “equally lay / In leaves” and “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.” So the road he will later call less traveled is actually the road equally traveled. The two roads are interchangeable.

According to this reading, then, the speaker will be claiming “ages and ages hence” that his decision made “all the difference” only because this is the kind of claim we make when we want to comfort or blame ourselves by assuming that our current position is the product of our own choices (as opposed to what was chosen for us or allotted to us by chance). The poem isn’t a salute to can-do individualism; it’s a commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of our own lives. “The Road Not Taken” may be, as the critic Frank Lentricchia memorably put it, “the best example in all of American poetry of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” But we could go further: It may be the best example in all of American culture of a wolf in sheep’s clothing."

 

[NPT]

The Most Misread Poem in America
David Orr/The Paris Review
9/11/2015

"Frost’s poem turns this expectation on its head. Most readers consider “The Road Not Taken” to be a paean to triumphant self-assertion (“I took the one less traveled by”), but the literal meaning of the poem’s own lines seems completely at odds with this interpretation. The poem’s speaker tells us he “shall be telling,” at some point in the future, of how he took the road less traveled by, yet he has already admitted that the two paths “equally lay / In leaves” and “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.” So the road he will later call less traveled is actually the road equally traveled. The two roads are interchangeable.

According to this reading, then, the speaker will be claiming “ages and ages hence” that his decision made “all the difference” only because this is the kind of claim we make when we want to comfort or blame ourselves by assuming that our current position is the product of our own choices (as opposed to what was chosen for us or allotted to us by chance). The poem isn’t a salute to can-do individualism; it’s a commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of our own lives. “The Road Not Taken” may be, as the critic Frank Lentricchia memorably put it, “the best example in all of American poetry of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” But we could go further: It may be the best example in all of American culture of a wolf in sheep’s clothing."

Yeah it almost sounds like a politician wrote it.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

The Most Misread Poem in America
David Orr/The Paris Review
9/11/2015

"Frost’s poem turns this expectation on its head. Most readers consider “The Road Not Taken” to be a paean to triumphant self-assertion (“I took the one less traveled by”), but the literal meaning of the poem’s own lines seems completely at odds with this interpretation. The poem’s speaker tells us he “shall be telling,” at some point in the future, of how he took the road less traveled by, yet he has already admitted that the two paths “equally lay / In leaves” and “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.” So the road he will later call less traveled is actually the road equally traveled. The two roads are interchangeable.

According to this reading, then, the speaker will be claiming “ages and ages hence” that his decision made “all the difference” only because this is the kind of claim we make when we want to comfort or blame ourselves by assuming that our current position is the product of our own choices (as opposed to what was chosen for us or allotted to us by chance). The poem isn’t a salute to can-do individualism; it’s a commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of our own lives. “The Road Not Taken” may be, as the critic Frank Lentricchia memorably put it, “the best example in all of American poetry of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” But we could go further: It may be the best example in all of American culture of a wolf in sheep’s clothing."

I disagree with every word that reviewer vomited.

Who ever thought The Road Not Taken was about “triumphant self-assertion”? What a crock.

The poem is a lament of unknown lost opportunities due to the slightest difference in choices, based on the slightest difference in perception, even just a slightly grassier path that wanted wear slightly more than another - another that was never seen again.

He lived the life he lived, and not the one he might have lived if he had taken the other path. He wasn’t bragging. He was pondering.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

I disagree with every word that reviewer vomited.

Who ever thought The Road Not Taken was about “triumphant self-assertion”? What a crock.

The poem is a lament of unknown lost opportunities due to the slightest difference in choices, based on the slightest difference in perception, even just a slightly grassier path that wanted wear slightly more than another - another that was never seen again.

He lived the life he lived, and not the one he might have lived if he had taken the other path. He wasn’t bragging. He was pondering.

I thought you would like that article.

All good poetry is open to multiple interpretations. If you don’t like it, stick to “Roses are red…”

 

[UncleMark]

All good poetry is open to multiple interpretations. If you don’t like it, stick to “Roses are red…”

There once was a gal from Nantucket...

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

I thought you would like that article.

All good poetry is open to multiple interpretations. If you don’t like it, stick to “Roses are red…”

Interpretations that are wrong and stupid are wrong and stupid.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

There once was a gal from Nantucket...

Now, that is a heavily nuanced poem. The layered meanings and rich use of multiple literary devices are so artfully constructed to leave the reader wanting more.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

Interpretations that are wrong and stupid are wrong and stupid.

That’s certainly your opinion.

 

[NPT]

I disagree with every word that reviewer vomited.

Who ever thought The Road Not Taken was about “triumphant self-assertion”? What a crock.

The poem is a lament of unknown lost opportunities due to the slightest difference in choices, based on the slightest difference in perception, even just a slightly grassier path that wanted wear slightly more than another - another that was never seen again.

He lived the life he lived, and not the one he might have lived if he had taken the other path. He wasn’t bragging. He was pondering.

I've only read it a couple times but I always assumed that he was saying "If only I had taken that road then............." I never have read a lot of poetry.

On a side note my favorite poem is (because I love the fall):

September Lyrics​

1 The golden-rod is yellow;
2 The corn is turning brown;
3 The trees in apple orchards
4 With fruit are bending down.

5 The gentian's bluest fringes
6 Are curling in the sun;
7 In dusty pods the milkweed
8 Its hidden silk has spun.

9 The sedges flaunt their harvest,
10 In every meadow nook;
11 And asters by the brook-side
12 Make asters in the brook,

13 From dewy lanes at morning
14 The grapes' sweet odors rise;
15 At noon the roads all flutter
16 With yellow butterflies.

17 By all these lovely tokens
18 September days are here,
19 With summer's best of weather,
20 And autumn's best of cheer.

21 But none of all this beauty
22 Which floods the earth and air
23 Is unto me the secret
24 Which makes September fair.

25 'T is a thing which I remember;
26 To name it thrills me yet:
27 One day of one September
28 I never can forget.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

That’s certainly your opinion.

No. It’s the truth.

Don’t let some dummy mislead ya just cause he writes an article for some Paris rag and teaches poetry at Rutgers. He was wrong. Still is. The poem cannot rationally be interpreted as being about “triumphant self assertion” - much less often enough to be considered the dominant view of its meaning.

That’s like saying motion offense is about defense.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

No. It’s the truth.

Don’t let some dummy mislead ya just cause he writes an article for some Paris rag and teaches poetry at Rutgers. He was wrong. Still is. The poem cannot rationally be interpreted as being about “triumphant self assertion” - much less often enough to be considered the dominant view of its meaning.

That’s like saying motion offense is about defense.

While I respect your interpretation, it's your unwillingness to accept other takes that shows your simplistic understanding of poetry. Good poetry speaks to the reader, who brings his/her own biases and life experiences to the experience. Reading good poetry is most often a personal experience, as well as a two-way street.
It is cute that you expect me to more highly value the opinion of some anonymous retired IU law school grad on a message board more than a guy who has a B.A in English Literature from Princeton and a J.D. from Yale, and writes books about, you know, poetry. The link I provided was not actually the author's review of the poem, but an excerpt from the author's book on the poem that was quoted in the Paris Review. I realize that in these times, intellectualism is tantamount to dishonesty, and this author's credentials render him unworthy in certain circles, but I would argue that he brings at least as much authority on the subject to the table as you.

My point is, I don't think he is right, or that you are wrong. His interpretation is just that...his interpretation. I'm sure he has done his research and is not building his house on sand, but in the end, good poetry is not a mathematical equation.

When we start assigning absolutes to these works of art is when they lose much of their power, and we become poorer as a society for it.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

While I respect your interpretation, it's your unwillingness to accept other takes that shows your simplistic understanding of poetry. Good poetry speaks to the reader, who brings his/her own biases and life experiences to the experience. Reading good poetry is most often a personal experience, as well as a two-way street.
It is cute that you expect me to more highly value the opinion of some anonymous retired IU law school grad on a message board more than a guy who has a B.A in English Literature from Princeton and a J.D. from Yale, and writes books about, you know, poetry. The link I provided was not actually the author's review of the poem, but an excerpt from the author's book on the poem that was quoted in the Paris Review. I realize that in these times, intellectualism is tantamount to dishonesty, and this author's credentials render him unworthy in certain circles.

My point is, I don't think he is right, or that you are wrong. His interpretation is just that...his interpretation. I'm sure he has done his research and is not building his house on sand, but in the end, good poetry is not a mathematical equation.

When we start assigning absolutes to these works of art is when they lose much of their power, and we become poorer as a society for it.

I accept other takes. Just not that wrong and stupid one.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

I accept other takes. Just not that wrong and stupid one.

I apologize that I made some edits to my post above while you replied, though they weren't really substantial, and will in no way change your opinion.
Absolutes and poetry do not mix. Like I said, if poetry was concrete, it would all be "Roses are red". The joy of great poets is their ability to speak to all of us, across time and circumstances. They write poems that are universal. That would not be possible if poems were only open to such a narrow interpretation.
The author is obviously not a hack, and neither are you. The two of you just see it differently.