1984. Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.
Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" is symbolic for the struggles that people face in life when it comes to making decisions. The last 2 lines of the poem "I took the one less traveled by, and the has made all the difference." relates to the work because it shows the outcomes of the decision making process and this is effective because it claims that the "road less traveled" is actually the better decision to be made.
The last 2 lines of the poem shows the outcomes of the decision the author makes on which road to travel and is glad that he took the one less traveled by. In the first stanza, the author is "sorry" that he was unable to travel both roads, and "stared" down both paths, deciding which one would have a better outcome. These concepts are idealistically metaphorical for when one has to look at both decisions that are presented to him or her and acknowledge which one would be more beneficial to him or her later on in life.
These last two lines are effective because it claims that the "road less traveled by" is the decision that is less favorable but, "...that has made all the difference." meaning that it is more beneficial. The traveler saw, "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" but had taken time to contemplate why he would choose one road over the other. This describes when one is portrays the pros versus the cons in a decision. Thus, it is effective because it shows how the author conclusively was led to the road less traveled, and how it impacted him.
The "Road Not Taken" is symbolic for the the tough decisions that people have to make in life, and analyzes the decision making process and how the outcome is effective because it is least favorable.
what was good: I think your thesis is good and the conclusion is pretty good.
ReplyDeletewhat needs work:this essay was sort of hard for me to get through. I understand that their is a huge time constraint but I would suggest tyoing this into word and turning on grammer check. Many of the sentances are hard to follow. Thus I would also reread your paper before submitting it. I also think you misinterpret the poem. For me it is about making your own paths and doing things in your own manner. While it is about making decisions I think that this is only sort of the top level.I think that the conclusion"the less favorable is more desirable." does not make much sense and seems to be contradictory.
We chose the same poem, but different lines for this prompt, very interesting. You did a good job on your thesis and analyzing the lines you chose, but I think you could go even deeper by using specific quotes and identifying them as using DIDLS techniques. I think if you do this, then you will understand a slightly different meaning of the piece. I would not say that the narrator is completely pleased at his choice, but looking back on the past wondering about what could have been. While it is often easy to look at one line or idea in a piece and only use this to determine meaning, you must look at the piece as a whole. I would try to connect the lines you chose more with the whole poem.
ReplyDeleteOops! Also, don't forget to cite the author and line numbers!
ReplyDeleteAgain. Open prompts are supposed to be without a book so writing an open prompt with the poem in front of you is sorta pointless because it defeats the purpose and then you're really just writing a Closed Prompt, right?
ReplyDeleteWith that said, i don't have any major complaints about this essay. I think your analysis is a little shallow at some points and the lines that you bring up can be taken to a much more deeper meaning. However, that is no fault of yours, we're all really just beginners at this realy analyzing stuff. I think its also important to mention that since this is a poem, you should really emphasize on the symbolism since poems are typically chaulk full of it. :)Great job overall.