The Road Poem Annotations

The poem opens introducing a long and dark street. The speaker walks through the street clumsily, stumbling around due to the darkness. He hears his feet on the stones and the leaves, but also hears someone else behind him. The person behind him is doing everything the speaker is doing, but when the speaker turns around, there is no one there. The speaker can’t see or make out anything, only his footsteps. He follows the endless street around its endless corners, and says that no one follows him but he is pursuing someone else. The man the speaker is following stumbles and looks back only to say that there is no one there. The speaker is faced with being with no options and stuck entirely alone. He has no doors to enter or other paths to take. He is stuck going on the same path with nobody to accompany him. When it seems …show more content…
“If I slow down, he slows; If I run, he runs”-almost like his shadow, doing everything the speaker is doing
“I turn: nobody”- when he turns he either sees no one or he does not recognize that anyone is there
Lines 10-11 (clause)
There is no other paths since it is “doorless”- everything around the speaker is dark so no alternate paths, possible from a previous decision
“Only my steps aware of me”- he only hears his own steps, nothing else
Lines 12-13 (clause)
He continues on turning the corners- possible metaphor for some of the turns of life that he just ignores and continues on mindlessly
The corners continue on forever with the street- the turns of life are seemingly endless
Lines 14-17 (clause)
Nobody waits for him or follows him- once again he is either very lonely or not able to recognize outside help
He is following after someone else who is also stumbling- just like himself
The man the speaker is following gets back up and continues on his way, only saying nobody when he looks behind him- the man is the speaker and the speaker is trying literally trying to reach himself, as he is also on a quest of self-discovery

4) The