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Tuesday, November 25, 2008 / 9:58 PM
the road less travelled 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. Robert Frost I had always thought that this poem was inspirational in the sense that it teaches you to stick to your path and although there may be regrets and mistakes made, you trudge on with your choice. But when i wiki-ed for it just now, i realised that was just a literal translation of the poem, and that the actual meaning differed. Guess poems have that kind of mystical effect. You can never be too sure what the poet is saying despite such a few quatrains. Feelings and thoughts are so highly condensed that it feels almost impossible to pierce through the layers and see what exactly a poem contains. Sometimes i don't get poets too. But i respect them for churning out poems of such kinds, partly due to their ability to really create poems and now just write in blank verse and claim it to be poetry. However, poetry is not without its demerits too. Too much emotions, flighty stanzas, cryptic subject matter. I wish i could understand poetry better. Like understand how authors think and what people want. Perhaps by training the analytical eye can we then have a better grasp of our worlds. And finding out how fickle people can be, and what really drove Sylvia Plath to suicide. Was it Ted Hughes? Or was it the cruel critics? Oh well. Preparing for my exams. Getting a little giddy :D |
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