E20: The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost
11/06/22 • 1 min
Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken
Published: 1915
"Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is often interpreted as an anthem of individualism and nonconformity, seemingly encouraging readers to take the road less traveled. This interpretation has long been propagated through countless song lyrics, newspaper columns, and graduation speeches. But as Frost liked to warn his listeners, “You have to be careful of that one; it’s a tricky poem—very tricky.” In actuality, the two roads diverging in a yellow wood are “really about the same,” according to Frost, and are equally traveled and quite interchangeable." (theatlantic.com, 2018)
Poem:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo 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 thereHad worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally layIn 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 sighSomewhere 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. Credits: Robert Frost (1915), The Atlantic (2018)
Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken
Published: 1915
"Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is often interpreted as an anthem of individualism and nonconformity, seemingly encouraging readers to take the road less traveled. This interpretation has long been propagated through countless song lyrics, newspaper columns, and graduation speeches. But as Frost liked to warn his listeners, “You have to be careful of that one; it’s a tricky poem—very tricky.” In actuality, the two roads diverging in a yellow wood are “really about the same,” according to Frost, and are equally traveled and quite interchangeable." (theatlantic.com, 2018)
Poem:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo 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 thereHad worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally layIn 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 sighSomewhere 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. Credits: Robert Frost (1915), The Atlantic (2018)
Previous Episode
E19: Crossroads - Don McLean (Cover)
Don McLean - Crossroads (Song)
Written/Released: 1971
Album: American Pie
Theme & Story: "I think this line is the essence of the pop ballad; the sense of regret, the wish to turn back time, the fear of the road lying ahead. Textually, the song is about a man who returns to a long lost love and begs for salvation. But that’s far too linear interpretation. I read the entire second verse in a far more spiritual way. Hope and salvation lie with anything that will join you on the inevitable journey of life. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a person – it can be an idea, a thought, an emotion and even an absence. Sometimes absences are stronger than presences. “But there’s no need for turning back, ’cause all the roads lead to where I stand.”" (inartematt.com,2019)
Lyrics:
I've got nothing on my mind,Nothing to remember,Nothing to forget.And I've got nothing to regret.But I'm all tied up on the inside,No one knows quite what I've got,And I know that on the outsideWhat I used to beI'm notanymore.You know I've heard about people like meBut I never made the connection.They walk one road to set them freeAnd find they've gone the wrong direction.But there's no need for turning backCause all roads lead to where I stand;And I believe I'll walk them allNo matter what I may have planned.Can you remember who I was?Can you still feel it?Can you find my pain?Can you heal it?Then lay your hands upon me nowAnd cast this darkness from my soul.You alone can light my way.You alone can make me wholeOnce again.We've walked both sides of every streetThrough all kinds of windy weather;But that was never our defeatAs long as we could walk together.So there's no need for turning backCause all roads lead to where we stand;And I believe we'll walk them allNo matter what we may have planned.
Listen to the original song by Don McLean HERE
Credits: Don McLean, 1971, American Pie
Next Episode
E21: All Is Vanity, Saith the Preacher - Lord Byron
Lord Byron - All Is Vanity, Saith the Preacher
Written/Published in: Hebrew Melodies nr. 21 1815
Theme: Lord Byron’s poem is inspired by the Book of Qohelet. He transfers Qohelet’s feeling of life into a psalm, thereby condensing the Biblical material in his own way. He makes Qohelet, whom he conventionally identifies with King Solomon, look back at the happy times in his life. He interprets the Preacher’s resignation and depression by introducing the serpent from Genesis 3; this aspect helps to generalize Qohelet‘s pessimistic outlook on human life. Zsengellér, J. 2022. Understanding Texts in Early Judaism: Studies on Biblical, Qumranic, Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature in Memory of Géza Xeravits. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110768534
Poem:
I.Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine,And health and youth possess'd me;My goblets blush'd from every vine,And lovely forms caress'd me;I sunn'd my heart in beauty's eyes,And felt my soul grow tender:All earth can give, or mortal prize,Was mine of regal splendour.II.I strive to number o'er what daysRemembrance can discover,Which all that life or earth displaysWould lure me to live over.There rose no day, there roll'd no hourOf pleasure unembitter'd;And not a trapping deck'd my powerThat gall'd not while it glitter'd.III.The serpent of the field, by artAnd spells, is won from harming;But that which coils around the heart,Oh! who hath pwer of charming?It will not list to wisdom's lore,Nor music's voice can lure it;But there it stings for evermoreThe soul that must endure it.
Credits: Lord Byron 1815, József Zsengellér 2022
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