As a survey of American literature there are many influential and celebrated authors. Jack Kerouac has become a well known writer whose nontraditional style has led him to fame. In Jack Kerouac’s writings, he used a stream of consciousness, spoke chaotic and randomly, and used long run on sentences. In “Big Sur”, Kerouac uses run on sentences that reach around 9 lines long. In the conservative 1950s, his stream of consciousness approach to writing was unheard of. Kerouac’s style was revolutionary for his time. Kerouac is, “regarded as a liberator of prose and champion of idiomatic American expression” (Baym 2542).
Robert Frost was a well known, Pulitzer Prize winning author. Frost was known for his realistic style and portrayal of rural life. He used life in New England to analyze the complex social and philosophical themes present during the early twentieth century. Frost found beauty in nature and used it in his poetry. In the gist of Jack Kerouac, “The Road Not Taken” could be written as this:
I came across two roads that diverged in a yellow wood---I was sorry I could not travel both since I was only one traveler; I stood there looking down one path as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth and then I took a look down the other path which seemed just as fair, being all grassy and wanted wear, but really both paths had been worn about the same.
That morning both lay equally covered in leaves and I decided to keep the first for another day, and knowing how way lead on to way, I doubted if I should ever decide to come back.
As I am I telling this tale, I tell it with a sigh; somewhere a long long time ago while in the woods, two roads diverged in front of me, I decided to take the one less traveled and that re...
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... for someone, and finding a means for success. These are important lessons to be learned, which can be applied to in life.
Works Cited
Baym, Nina, Ed. “Modernism” Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 1260-1262.
Baym, Nina, Ed. “Emily Dickinson” Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 1197-1200.
Baym, Nina, Ed. “Jack Kerouac” Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 2542-1543.
Baym, Nina, Ed. “Robert Frost” Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 1951-1952.
Cahan, Abraham. “A Sweatshop Romance” Baym 1661-1670
Dickinson, Emily. “479: Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Baym 1214- 1215.
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken. Baym 1960.
Kerouac, Jack. “Big Sur.” Baym 2544.
than I had hoped. I decided to venture, as I called it; on a long and hopefully
crooked path; for in that grove I left him, by my faith, under a tree, and
After dissecting the one road, the speaker takes the other path without putting as much time investigating it. He makes so...
The desire to travel down both paths is expressed and is not unusual. The speaker of this poem realizes that the decision is not just a temporary one and he "doubted if I should ever come back.
After three weeks of waiting for the grass to grow, it finally sprouted up and we started our journey for Oregon. After the first towns in the beginning, The people guiding me began to throw materials out of the back of the wagon. That's when I noticed that their was all sorts of stuff scattering the trail. That night, my guiders unloaded a pile of assorted materials. In the morning, not to my surprise the wagon was lighter and easier to move. The journy was very dry for the next few weeks it was very dry, except when we hit these little towns. We would stop for no more than a day to stock up on energy, then keep on walking.
He stands a long time at the meeting of the two roads and looks down one path as far as he can but it disappears in the ‘undergrowth’ as it takes a bend
The post World War II period had an enormous impact on American society and literature. Many important events occurred and affected directly to the movement of American literature. During this period, American Literature reflected the movement of disillusionment, and portrayed the lost generation. Many WWII writers adapted new approaches and philosophies in writing their novels. They portrayed the lost generation, anti-war perspective and explored the true meaning of “war hero”. Among them, the pioneers are Bernard Malamud, Ken Kesey and Joseph Heller, who wrote the Natural, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Catch-22.
“The Road Not Taken” examines the struggles people run into when they come to a place in their life where a life altering decisions has to be made. The man who is described in this poem is traveling when he comes upon “two roads diverged” (1). He then has to choose which path he will take to continue on his journey. After standing at the diversion for a while, he knows he has to make a final decision. One path was worn down and “bent in the undergrowth” (5), so he took the other path, which was described as “perhaps the better claim/ Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (6-7). The man of the poem begins to ponder about a time when he will be telling his story of the path he took. Although we are not sure if the man regrets his decision or is relieved, he lets us know taking the road less traveled “has made all the difference” (20).
As I began to walk this trail, I began to recollect the days of when I was a kid playing in the woods, the birds chirping and the squirrels running free. The trees interlocking each other as if I am walking through a tunnel with the smell of fresh pine and a hint of oak all around me; a hint of sunshine every now and then is gleaming down on the beat path. This path is not like your ordinary path, it has been used quite some time, as if hundreds of soldiers have marched this very path.
Between the years of 1865 and 1914, American literature was mainly comprised of three writing styles: realism, regionalism, and naturalism. Realism aims to portray life realistically. Though realism...
After he studied the first road cautiously, he examined the second one. At first he is more attracted to the second road because “it was grassy and wanted wear” which meant that it was less traveled by (Frost,HO). To say that the path “wanted wear” is a personification (Frost,HO). It gives the road the human characteristic of wanting. After evaluating both roads, he decides that they are equal. He then states that they are really worn about the same. This gives the reader something to think about. If the two roads were utter...
Now the author is trying to persuade himself with his presumption that they would end the same and maybe both of them is traveled by the same amount of people. However, he contradicted himself in the next line by saying that the leaves on the empty road haven¡¯t been stepped by anybody yet. Again this is a spiritual and mental process behind the scene of physical journey.
As the bushes and brush grew more solid I began to ponder. Will I make it through this forest tonight or will I be taken in by the thick of the mystery? Sounds from sluggish foot steps caused a vibration around me that lead me to stop in my place and listen closely. Could this forest be haunted or was I just over exaggerating? I started to get very nervous by this time. “It will be just fine,” I told myself. I am just imagining things. I continued my journey through the forest but negative thoughts were running through my l...
In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, author Robert Frost uses the simple image of a road to represent a person’s journey through life. A well-established poet, Frost does a proficient job of transforming a seemingly common road to one of great importance, which along the way helps one identify who they really are. This poem is one of self-discovery. Frost incorporates strong elements of poetry such as theme, symbolism, rhyme scheme, diction, imagery, and tone to help create one of his most well known pieces about the human experience.
The road first cut through a group of trees where my brother and I made our tre...