I just ran across an Israeli politician who insisted that Frost's position was that "Good fences make good neighbors", and used that to excuse (?) the notion of a border wall along the border with Gaza. (Which makes no sense to me because you can throw things over a wall, a fact amply demonstrated by Qassam rockets.)
"For heaven, and the future's, sakes" - what a lovely statement, only slightly marred by a quirk of my vision ("lazy eye" means my left eye sees nearly nothing, and all the work is done by my right.) (But I had to go back to the poem to note the eye-ronny.)
Ok.... Most people (as did the fellow I was speaking with), see the poem as a praise/reccomendation to take the road less travelled.
Frost, however, doesn't actually say that. The poem is more ironic; and slightly cynical, than that.
To support this, of course we have to go to the text.
Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.
So we have the wo roads, each, in fact, about the same; so far as the people who travel them.
Skip to the end.
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,
Somewhere in the future, he will while looking back say he took the road less travelled (futher he wil go on to say that has made all the difference), but he knows, now that they aren't so different as all that.
So the poem isn't so much about bucking trends, and going one's own way, but rather about seeintg how one shall views one's choices in the future.
It's still about how one does things, and the choices one makes, but it's also a cautionary about self-delusion.
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Which?
Date: 2008-02-14 04:01 pm (UTC)I just ran across an Israeli politician who insisted that Frost's position was that "Good fences make good neighbors", and used that to excuse (?) the notion of a border wall along the border with Gaza. (Which makes no sense to me because you can throw things over a wall, a fact amply demonstrated by Qassam rockets.)
"For heaven, and the future's, sakes" - what a lovely statement, only slightly marred by a quirk of my vision ("lazy eye" means my left eye sees nearly nothing, and all the work is done by my right.) (But I had to go back to the poem to note the eye-ronny.)
Re: Which?
Date: 2008-02-14 05:36 pm (UTC)Frost, however, doesn't actually say that. The poem is more ironic; and slightly cynical, than that.
To support this, of course we have to go to the text.
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
So we have the wo roads, each, in fact, about the same; so far as the people who travel them.
Skip to the end.
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,
Somewhere in the future, he will while looking back say he took the road less travelled (futher he wil go on to say that has made all the difference), but he knows, now that they aren't so different as all that.
So the poem isn't so much about bucking trends, and going one's own way, but rather about seeintg how one shall views one's choices in the future.
It's still about how one does things, and the choices one makes, but it's also a cautionary about self-delusion.
TK