Ball 3 Lauren Ball
English 2020
Dr. Hayley Haugen
October 17, 2016
Choosing Unique Paths in the Midst of Fear and Regret Poetry is a way to express ourselves and connect to the world around us. Poets use imagery and their own experiences to share information on social conflicts of this life. Robert Frost, Tony M. Burge Jr, and Kristen Camille Lemaster use their poems to make readers think about struggles that individuals face daily. In Frost’s “The Road Not Taken", Burge’s “Song before Sunrise”, and in Lemaster’s “Render Reestablishment,” we see similar themes related to challenging societal norms. The poets could be taking on personas, but it is visible to readers that these poets have their own opinions about creating a spark in the universe. …show more content…
At this moment, the speaker is most likely yearning for a flashing neon sign to pop out of nowhere and point him in the best direction. This reminds readers that we all want to take the right path, but we have to learn to take a leap of faith and travel down the one route that we believe to be the better choice in that particular phase. “The Road Not Taken," is a poem that gets misunderstood more than I originally thought. When I first read this poem, I immediately believed the most common interpretation which is that the speaker chose his own lifestyle and is reflecting on the accomplishment. This reasoning is logical, but there is another side that should be taken into consideration. This poem can be seen as positive, but the audience gets a feeling of apprehension: 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 …show more content…
The speakers are rising up in order to overthrow the current authority figures or methods that have been chosen in the past. This poem hints at other themes that the first poem does not. Lemaster uses lines such as: “humanity fell into its own reign/it hid its face from the eyes of the sun” (11-12) to show the theme of denying the truth. We can say that some people deny the truth to make a situation easier, but other people fight for the truth to be known in order to transform the world. Another important theme in this work is restoration and love being reborn. This comes through these lines: “a beautiful world was hurt by its own/restoration is near, love is regrown” (13-14). The pain of the world is real and acknowledged, but the world is being pieced back together at the end of the poem. Readers can assume that upstanding citizens of the generation made it possible to come up with solutions for their problems. By challenging the norms of society, the generation brought light and truth to “reverse the damage” (10) that previous generations may have caused before them. The poet may have been speaking about her generation or one that has already changed the world. This can be looked at as an event that has occurred or something that she is living through in the moment. If we look at the poem as being a cry for her generation to step up and fight then we see a sorrow for the current state, but
English 2020
Dr. Hayley Haugen
October 17, 2016
Choosing Unique Paths in the Midst of Fear and Regret Poetry is a way to express ourselves and connect to the world around us. Poets use imagery and their own experiences to share information on social conflicts of this life. Robert Frost, Tony M. Burge Jr, and Kristen Camille Lemaster use their poems to make readers think about struggles that individuals face daily. In Frost’s “The Road Not Taken", Burge’s “Song before Sunrise”, and in Lemaster’s “Render Reestablishment,” we see similar themes related to challenging societal norms. The poets could be taking on personas, but it is visible to readers that these poets have their own opinions about creating a spark in the universe. …show more content…
At this moment, the speaker is most likely yearning for a flashing neon sign to pop out of nowhere and point him in the best direction. This reminds readers that we all want to take the right path, but we have to learn to take a leap of faith and travel down the one route that we believe to be the better choice in that particular phase. “The Road Not Taken," is a poem that gets misunderstood more than I originally thought. When I first read this poem, I immediately believed the most common interpretation which is that the speaker chose his own lifestyle and is reflecting on the accomplishment. This reasoning is logical, but there is another side that should be taken into consideration. This poem can be seen as positive, but the audience gets a feeling of apprehension: 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 …show more content…
The speakers are rising up in order to overthrow the current authority figures or methods that have been chosen in the past. This poem hints at other themes that the first poem does not. Lemaster uses lines such as: “humanity fell into its own reign/it hid its face from the eyes of the sun” (11-12) to show the theme of denying the truth. We can say that some people deny the truth to make a situation easier, but other people fight for the truth to be known in order to transform the world. Another important theme in this work is restoration and love being reborn. This comes through these lines: “a beautiful world was hurt by its own/restoration is near, love is regrown” (13-14). The pain of the world is real and acknowledged, but the world is being pieced back together at the end of the poem. Readers can assume that upstanding citizens of the generation made it possible to come up with solutions for their problems. By challenging the norms of society, the generation brought light and truth to “reverse the damage” (10) that previous generations may have caused before them. The poet may have been speaking about her generation or one that has already changed the world. This can be looked at as an event that has occurred or something that she is living through in the moment. If we look at the poem as being a cry for her generation to step up and fight then we see a sorrow for the current state, but