Ambiguity

Ambiguity

“The Road Less Taken” by Robert Frost and Blanche Farley’s parody “The Lover Not Taken”, are two examples of poems that show strong poetic literary elements. When looking at Frost’s poem from the surface it is just about a stroll in the woods, which led to a fork in the road, and the speaker had to decide which road he/she should continue on. But the final stanza proves that the poem has much more meaning, and actually deals with the metaphor of the road less traveled on life’s interesting journey. Farley’s poem however is a parody to Frost’s poem about a woman who has found herself lusting after one man, but is promised to another. In a sense this poem is making fun of life’s “important” decisions and the repercussions that come about, because in the future, does it really matter when all is said and done? Frost’s poem has a theme that the choices the speaker makes now, will affect the future on a grand scale while in Farley’s poem, the speakers choices seem to hold less weight on her future, which is proven by the word choice, rhyme scheme and tone.

Word choice in poetry is critical because the poet is trying to express some form of a story in a limited amount of physical words, therefore each word is strategically picked. “The Lover Not Taken” uses informal diction that is easier for the reader to understand and make light of the situation; while Robert Frost used middle diction, which is something educated people should be able to understand, making his poem more serious in nature. Considering the poem is a parody of “The Road Not Taken”, the poet needed to make light of the profound idea Frost is implying in his poem, that every choice we make, may make a difference in the future, therefore every choice is import...

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...feeling. The tone throughout the parody is more comedic and making light of the decision of cheating on the man she was promised to. Frost’s poem is more serious and makes the point that every decision is very important. Farley’s tone in lines 21-22 hold true to her thematic presence because the woman seizes the day and makes the decision to follow her desire rather than reason. The comedic tone allows for the reader to see that life should not be taken so seriously all the time, just do and have fun, don’t necessarily worry about things in the future.

Choices are indeed an important thing in everyday life, what is for breakfast, what outfit to wear and so on. The point Farley is making with her parody to Robert Frost’s serious vision on life decisions is don’t take every decision so serious. Go down different paths, mess up, and find new ways to do things.