Contrast/Compare Two 20th Century Poems
The following essay will compare two 20th century poems: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, an american poet from humble beginnings later winning four Pulitzers and becoming a poet laureate. The second poem, The Unknown Citizen was written by W. H. Auden born in England an advocate of socialism, turned American citizen. Auden was a man of many literary talents ranging from writing plays, collaborating operas and teaching as a professor. In addition he was among the first to traverse and succeed in producing modernist poetry exploring political, social and economic concerns in a way no other had previously triumphed. For this essay there will be an analysis, contrasting any similarities or differences, possible interpretations, and various language techniques each poet used in order to portray their literary works. The Road Not Taken, one of Frost’s most well known pieces was published by Henry Holt as part of the collection, Mountain Interval (1916), of which mainly drew inspiration from Frost’s experiences whilst living in England. Initially, the conflicting title of a ‘road’ not being taken in conjunction with the poem about a ‘road’ that is taken, actually goes unnoticed, as to why there might be a road rather than a …show more content…
The lines appear to be set out in clusters; some longer lines containing up to 21 syllables and then shorter ones of 10-15 syllables. This produces an image which could resemble stacks of papers. Having conjured up this file representative, one is able to visualise how all the official organisations held personal information of this unknown person just as the poem suggests. A single paper (person) in the messy mountain of documents exposes the person 's value held by the government is the deeper meaning of this
The following essay will compare two 20th century poems: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, an american poet from humble beginnings later winning four Pulitzers and becoming a poet laureate. The second poem, The Unknown Citizen was written by W. H. Auden born in England an advocate of socialism, turned American citizen. Auden was a man of many literary talents ranging from writing plays, collaborating operas and teaching as a professor. In addition he was among the first to traverse and succeed in producing modernist poetry exploring political, social and economic concerns in a way no other had previously triumphed. For this essay there will be an analysis, contrasting any similarities or differences, possible interpretations, and various language techniques each poet used in order to portray their literary works. The Road Not Taken, one of Frost’s most well known pieces was published by Henry Holt as part of the collection, Mountain Interval (1916), of which mainly drew inspiration from Frost’s experiences whilst living in England. Initially, the conflicting title of a ‘road’ not being taken in conjunction with the poem about a ‘road’ that is taken, actually goes unnoticed, as to why there might be a road rather than a …show more content…
The lines appear to be set out in clusters; some longer lines containing up to 21 syllables and then shorter ones of 10-15 syllables. This produces an image which could resemble stacks of papers. Having conjured up this file representative, one is able to visualise how all the official organisations held personal information of this unknown person just as the poem suggests. A single paper (person) in the messy mountain of documents exposes the person 's value held by the government is the deeper meaning of this