The Road Not Taken: A memory
Robert Frost
It’s the beginning of the month, which means it’s time for a new Memory, the side of Poetry & Process where we come together to memorize. We conduct this practice to engrain words of meaning into our minds, bodies, and beings that will serve as a companion during our individual walks. While each life is unique, the situations we encounter and emotions we face have been felt by many who have walked before us. Poems we know deeply can speak what we need to hear at the most opportune times.
For December, as we reflect on the end of a year and what lies ahead, we turn our attention to a famous poem that is often misinterpreted…
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Spoken:
Text:
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.
Podcast (5 minutes):
The Poet:
If you are interested in Robert Frost’s biography, check out this summary on Poetry Foundation.
Chat:
This is the point in our memorization process where we move the conversation to a Thread in the Chat function in the SubStack app/website. Check in today and throughout the week to hear how others in this community are memorizing the poem, the impact it is having on their week, and to discuss the themes in the poem.
Make this experience your own, choosing how you approach the poem’s content, your memorization process, and connect with us in the chat!
I look forward to our conversation!
Brian
That’s an interesting take on this poem. And I guess it opens up a philosophical debate about determinism vs. free will. My son and I have a lot of conversations about this topic. I tend to lean towards compatiblism because I refuse to believe that humans don’t have at least some free will in the things we do, and the choices we make. But I like some aspects of Determinism because I think it fosters a comforting sense of self kindness. It helps me begin to forgive myself for choices made in the past that I wish were different.
'Yet knowing how way leads on to way' stood out to me too. It's a thing. So simply put. And then, the projected regret. I did this one at school, and am wondering about how it's misinterpreted again. (Maybe I'm doing it?)