Poet, Blanche Farley in his parody poem “A Lover Not Taken” published in 1984 address the topic of how the mind is influenced by emotions. He molds his poem after Robert Frost’s famous “A Road Not Taken” and incorporates a modern take to take the audience through the uneasy journey of the woman deciding between two different lovers. Through the use of diction, style, and imagery molded after Robert Frost, Blanche Farley demonstrates in her modernized parody “A Lover Not Taken” how emotions blur logic. The woman wishes to be with both men, however, Farley’s word choice suggests her inclination to choose someone new over someone good. As the speaker of the poem describes each man - Jack, an understanding and faithful man versus Blondie, a good …show more content…
Farley expands upon the poem’s descriptive style on the woman’s dilemma, ultimately directly influencing the audience to see the narrator’s opinion - Jack over Blondie. The poem begins with the woman shuffling indecisively around about Blondie and Jack. In this particular order, one is described primarily around on his looks, while the other is described primarily on his character. As a result, Blondie can only be based on his appearance; “this new guy… she likes his hair, his smile”. The narrator avoids to include his name and gives him any depth to him for the audience to see why he is a valid enough reason for the woman to leave Jack. Blondie’s case is weaker in context, thus weakening him in the audience’s eyes. Jack’s persona conveys everlasting love, a common desire by many individuals. Through this, the speaker successfully associates love to happiness. When comparing Farley’s modern take on Frost’s poem, the differences originates from their speakers. “A Road Not Taken” illustrates a man deciding between two roads with a metaphoric coating of uncertainty and regret. Farley’s poem, on the contrary, tackles an exact a modern day example of love affairs. The author is able to describe how the woman’s emotions will impact her in a specific manner and thus magnifying the poem’s tone. As the poem furthers and the decision to choose Jack seems right, Farley includes the following phrase: “to be perfectly fair,”. This is clear evidence that the speaker and the woman have different opinions on who is the much more
Other common poetic elements that are found in The Lover Not Taken, but also shared with Frost's poem are enjambment, irony, and hyperbole. Blanche uses enjambment in almost every other line, keeping the reader on their toes at all times, so as not to miss a line, or pause. Instances of enjambment can be found in the first stanza at the end of lines one, three, five, and carrying over to the second stanza on line seven. Irony is most evident at the end of The Lover Not Taken when the narrator took the fast way home, "and phoned the blond." Her decision is so unexpected because most women would stand by their man and hope to never let lust surpass love. This leaves the reader very surprised when the narrator definitely chooses the road less traveled.
The poem “The Lover Not Taken” share an identical structure with “The Road Not Taken,” with an extra stanza containing two lines where Farley throws in the punch line to make a point. Both the poems develop a unique pattern of rhyming, where the first, third and fourth line rhyme; also, second and the fifth line end with rhyming words. Despite the use of similar words such as “stood” (2) and “sigh” (16), Farley manages to create an unrestrained and dynamic lead character, while Frost portrays a slow pace. Farley, although portraying similar theme to that of Frost’s poem, intentionally contradicts the ideas in “The Road Not Taken,” only to unexpectedly choose the path “less travelled by” – the path of lust over love (Frost 19). She is willing to sacrifice an understanding lover for something that maybe a one night stand or worse. It is difficult t...
Frost first presents this idea by metaphorically discussing the spectacular abilities his daughter possesses but refuses to use. In the first quatrain, the poet suggests that his da...
In his Explicator article, “Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken,’” William George suggests that the poem includes “three distinct ages” of the narrator and focuses on the choices that this person must make at the different stages of his life (230). George differentiates the primary speaker of the poem, what he calls the “middle-aged self,” from the younger and older versions, noting that the middle-aged version mocks the other two by taking a more objective stance towards his decision. The younger and older versions “are given to emotion, self-deception, and self-congratulation, and both face a decision which the middle-aged speaker sees with more objective eyes than do his younger and older selves” (230). George demonstrates that, while the middle-aged self is able to view his other selves objectively without delusion and self-aggrandizement, the younger and older selves are incapable of this kind of objectivity in their decision-making.
Have you ever been faced with two important decisions? Life is full of options and when when you encounter two decisions you have to choose what path you are going to take. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” represents two tough decisions and having to choose one and not the other. Robert Frost uses a few poetic devices, such as, metaphor, symbolism and vivid imagery to express and show the decisions we make in life. These poetic devices also help Robert Frost get his point across about the roads.
The extended metaphors used by Anne Bradstreet and Robert Frost are inferred by continual metaphors within their poems. The poem “The Author to Her Book” by Bradstreet and Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” are comparable extended metaphors with similarities between the authors and the speakers. While Bradstreet viewed her works of art with flaws as a child, Frost used “diverged” roads to relate to choices in life. These poems share a similar idea that their themes deal with the lives’ of the speakers. In each poem the author and speaker are comparable through their extended metaphors, different styles of tone, and additional literary devices.
The woman, if only reading stanza one, would think her and the speaker are in total agreement. This idea, however, is fleeting as stanza two acts not only as a refutation for stanza one, but also as evidence for stanza three.... ... middle of paper ... ... The satire exists in the expectation that love has to occur before sex.
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” provide us contrasting and sometimes similar glimpses of life. “The Road Not Taken” is about taking control and living life. “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening” entails the desire for rest, perhaps due to the speaker’s feelings of weariness from facing life’s struggles. The poet also explains the tough choices people stand before when traveling the road of life. Sometimes people regret the possibilities of the road not chosen, sometimes people feel proud about the road they have chosen.
Robert Frost utilizes several poetic techniques to reveal the theme in his poem, “The Road Not Taken”, which is stressing the importance the decision making of one is, regardless of whether or not it is agreement with the resolution of their peers, and how it can affect their future. The techniques exercised in this piece of work are symbolism, imagery, and tone. Symbolism is the most powerfully used technique due to the fact a good number of lines located in this poem is used to signify a certain object or idea related to our life or today’s world. Imagery is significant in drawing out the theme for the reason that it allows the reader to construct a depiction in their mind, permitting them to relate more to the poem and interpret the theme their own way. In this poem, imagery permits the reader to imagine the scene that this poem takes place in resulting in an enhanced understanding of the theme. The tone this work presents is an insecure attitude which allows the theme to be brought out due to the fact the theme relates to a dilemma in one’s life. As seen by the reader, these techniques strongly aid in the revealing of this specific theme. The first technique Frost utilizes to uncover the theme is the strongest method, symbolism.
Above all, 'The Road Not Taken'; can truly be interpreted through much symbolism as a clear-sighted representation of two fair choices. The two roads in the poem, although, 'diverging,'; lead in different directions. At the beginning they appear to be somewhat similar, but is apparent that miles away they will grow farther and farther away from each other. Similar to many choices faced in life. It is impossible to foresee the consequences of most major decisions we make and it is often necessary to make these decisions based on a little more than examining which choice 'wanted wear.'; In
In Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” there are many complexities that ultimately lead to the poem’s unity. At first glance this poem seems to be a very typical coming of age poem where the speaker has come to a major fork in the road and he must decide which path to take. At first glance this would be a very good statement to make; however, as the reader digs deeper and searches for the complexity and the nuances of the poem the original assessment seems to be shallow and underdeveloped. In order to truly appreciate this poem as a work of art, the reader must search for the unity and complexity within it, otherwise this poetic work of art will go by unnoticed and cast off as a coming of age poem and nothing else.
The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost is a poem about decisions and how they can impact someone’s life. However, many other literary devices are used in the poem in order to make the theme more obvious to its readers. This poem is often confused as focusing on how the narrator takes the road less traveled, when it is actually meant to focus on the choice that the narrator denies, or the road not taken. Frost mentions the doubt and worry that comes along with decision-making, but how perseverance can make it worthwhile. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost introduces a theme of making life decisions, while using symbolism and tone as tools to show his readers that the right choice is not always the easy one.
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.
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” show the readers similar struggles of life. “The Road Not Taken” is about taking control of one’s life and living it aside from how others live theirs. While “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening” shows the desire for rest. Sometimes people regret the possibilities of the road not chosen, sometimes people feel proud about the road that they