Understanding Poetry (1 Viewer)

[wagig]

Hey everyone,
I have a comparative English exam on Journeys coming up and i might choose The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost as my Related text to Tess of the D'urbervilles;
Just as a recap, the venturer encounters a divergence in the road, and both forked roads are virtually identical and he chooses one of them, then he goes on to say:

"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. "

How could he take the one less travelled by if they were identical?
Is he lying? if so what is the purpose of this lie? :/

 

[Kurosaki]

Um, I guess what he's really saying is: no matter how subtle they are, differences in paths taken can have a major effect on shaping ones identity and so on?

 

[iEatOysters]

He's not really lying. He's telling the reader that to make difficult choices, you have to find a means of justifying them, no matter how trivial the differences are. So that means that he has to convince himself that the road he takes is the "road less travelled by", in order to make a decision, else he would be standing there forever, wondering which path to take. The fact that all the lines start with conjunctions, such as "and", "though"... Etc. hints at his meandering of thoughts, which suggest that while he wants to take both roads, he can't, so he must make a decision.

Does that even make sense? @.@

 

[ebbygoo]

Would you possibly be able to expand on this a little hahahaha

 

[hayabusaboston]

WHAT THE FUCCAK? Is it not "belonging" anymore after 2013 HSC??

 

[deloving]

It is. This is the preliminary.

 

[Kurosaki]

WHAT THE FUCCAK? Is it not "belonging" anymore after 2013 HSC??

I think 2014 is the last yr for belonging, preliminaryers do different AOS

 

[wagig]

Thanks everyone i'm gonna start writing some analysis now D:

 

[hayabusaboston]

omg wtf am I thiking. This is prelim. LOL silly me.

 

[ebbygoo]

Thanks everyone i'm gonna start writing some analysis now D:

Sure you are

 

[LightXT]

WHAT THE FUCCAK? Is it not "belonging" anymore after 2013 HSC??

Thought Belonging finished last year (2009-12)

The AoS cycles every four years.

 

[deloving]

HSC 2014 is the last year to do Belonging.

 

[SCAR_Blade]

the roads appear to be the same, but lead to different places in life.
and how well did you read the poem? the first stanza explains one road, the second stanza describes the second stanza, and although they appeal the same, these two stanzas are quite contrasting. you should pull apart all the techniques used in it and then look into its meaning, i find that going through a poem in that order clarifies alot