Raquinel, Jessa Raycel A.

Demandante, Eunice G.

Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was born in San Francisco, California, but became popular as a writer and spokesman of Rural New England. He encountered difficult years of supporting his family as he taught in school, farmed, wrote journals, and published his poems. He moved to England in 1912 where his first book, A Boy’s Will, was published. He settled of in New Hampshire upon his return to America and he continued to write and conduct oral readings of his poems. In his lifetime, he was awarded four Pulitzer Prizes and became poet laureate during John F. Kennedy’s administration. As a poet, he mastered the art of using conversational American speech in his writings, a technique which appealed to most contemporary readers. His works include Fire and Ice, Desert Places, Birches, Mending Wall, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and The Gift Outright, among others.

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

 Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as far that passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no steps had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

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 by,

And that has made all the difference.

Reading a literary work without understanding how it was made or what was the story behind it will just make it simple and ordinary like many others.  After reading the whole biography of Robert Frost, we unlocked the story behind one of his famous works, The Road Not Taken.

Since Frost’s father died earlier, his family was turned over to his grandfather, William Frost, Sr. He was offered by many opportunities but he always followed what he wanted. There were two roads, the first symbolized what his family specifically his grandfather wanted for him and the latter was his own gusto. He couldn’t travel both roads because it leads to two different places so he decided carefully and the line “Because it was grassy and wear;” suggested that he did weigh opportunities. Newspaper boy, factory worker, teaching and farm business were all unsuccessful and as a result, he pursued his writing career because he was earning a fortune from it. “In leaves no steps had trodden black”, meant that writing as a profession was not that popular during his time and many had not taken this road yet. After he took this way, “I doubted if I should ever come back”, he was certain that he will continue his journey as a writer. “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”, he trailed the road that he believed was the road for him without minding those many who had chosen to take the other road.

Read, reread, research and discover.