Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

00:23:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5140uJOUDE

Ringkasan

TLDRThis lecture provides a deep examination of Robert Frost, emphasizing the contrast between his public image as a simple, affirming poet and the darker, more complex themes found in his work. Frost's popularity and the sentimental values associated with his poetry are analyzed, particularly in relation to his well-known poem, "The Road Not Taken." The discussion reveals that the poem's celebration of choice may mask a deeper hesitation and ambiguity about decisions, suggesting that the voice of the speaker reflects a recognition of the complexity of human experience.

Takeaways

  • 📜 Robert Frost was a prominent American poet from 1874 to 1963.
  • 🏆 He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times.
  • ⭐️ His poetry is often seen as celebrating simple American values.
  • 🔍 Lionel Trilling suggested that Frost's poetry is darker than it appears.
  • 🛤️ "The Road Not Taken" is often misinterpreted as purely uplifting.
  • 🤔 The speaker's decision reflects uncertainty and regret.
  • 🔄 The last lines suggest self-deception about the choices made.
  • ⏳ The poem raises questions about the nature of personal choice.
  • ✍️ Many readers find comfort in the simplicity of Frost's language.
  • 📖 There is a contrast between Frost's public persona and private struggles.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speaker introduces Robert Frost as a popular American poet, emphasizing the contrast between public perceptions of Frost and the deeper meanings of his poetry. Frost's biographical details are mentioned, including his four Pulitzer Prizes and his association with New England values. The audience often equated the voice in Frost's poems with his own, missing the more complex ideas in his work.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    A significant critique arose at Frost's 85th birthday, where Lionel Trilling suggested that Frost's poetry contained darker themes than typically recognized, leading to public shock. Additionally, Lawrence Thompson’s biography began to reveal contradictions in Frost's public versus private life, including personal tragedies and conflicts that contrasted starkly with his grandfatherly image.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The speaker examines one of Frost's most famous poems, 'The Road Not Taken,' frequently interpreted as an encouragement for individualism. He reads the poem and explains its popularity among students, noting how people often misinterpret its affirmation of non-conformity and personal choice, reinforcing a cultural narrative of self-direction and making one's own path in life.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:23:46

    Upon a close reading of the poem, the speaker reveals contradictions in its conclusion, asserting that the speaker's decision doesn't necessarily carry the weight of affirmation previously assumed. The poem ends with an ambiguous reflection on the choices made, highlighting the theme of rationalization of past decisions and drawing parallels between Frost's life and the deeper meanings of his poetry.

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Video Tanya Jawab

  • What is Robert Frost known for?

    Robert Frost is known for being one of America's most famous poets, particularly popular in the 20th century for his relatable and seemingly simple poetry.

  • How many Pulitzer Prizes did Frost win?

    Robert Frost won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times during his lifetime.

  • What is the main theme of "The Road Not Taken"?

    The main theme of "The Road Not Taken" revolves around choices in life, non-conformity, and the ambiguity that accompanies decision-making.

  • What did Lionel Trilling say about Frost's poetry on his birthday?

    Lionel Trilling suggested that Frost's poetry is darker and more complex than his audience assumed, describing him as a "terrifying poet."

  • How does the lecturer view the last lines of "The Road Not Taken"?

    The lecturer argues that the last lines of the poem may reflect a rationalization or self-deception rather than a clear affirmation of non-conformity.

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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:06
    uh good morning uh today we'll be
  • 00:00:09
    speaking about one of America's most uh
  • 00:00:12
    well-known certainly most popular poets
  • 00:00:15
    in the 20th century uh Robert Frost and
  • 00:00:20
    the reason why um I think uh Robert
  • 00:00:23
    Frost provides a very interesting
  • 00:00:25
    illustration of popular poetry in
  • 00:00:28
    America is that I think think there are
  • 00:00:30
    certain discrepancies between the way in
  • 00:00:32
    which his audience perceived him and the
  • 00:00:35
    way in fact uh his poetry actually reads
  • 00:00:39
    and um U should be understood uh but
  • 00:00:43
    just to give you a small background
  • 00:00:44
    about uh Robert Frost since uh as you
  • 00:00:47
    can see from the handout that I've given
  • 00:00:49
    you his uh dates are 1874 to
  • 00:00:53
    1963 I assume that most of you are
  • 00:00:56
    unfamiliar with uh his personal
  • 00:00:59
    appearances with with the way he looked
  • 00:01:01
    uh and the way he was received but just
  • 00:01:04
    to give you some notion of the
  • 00:01:06
    popularity that this poet had in the
  • 00:01:08
    20th century he won the pulit Sur prize
  • 00:01:11
    for poetry four times in his lifetime uh
  • 00:01:14
    The pulit Sur prize is one of the
  • 00:01:17
    popular calibrations of uh fiction and
  • 00:01:20
    poetry in America but to win it four
  • 00:01:22
    times is surely uh
  • 00:01:24
    outstanding uh and the reasons for that
  • 00:01:27
    I suspect is that uh most of his
  • 00:01:31
    audience saw him as a very
  • 00:01:33
    recognizable very gentle very Regional
  • 00:01:37
    personality with whom they could
  • 00:01:39
    identify or empathize uh usually when
  • 00:01:43
    people thought about Robert Frost they
  • 00:01:44
    saw a man who stood a little under six
  • 00:01:46
    foot tall uh he had a great shock of
  • 00:01:49
    white hair he spoke in a kind of grally
  • 00:01:52
    voice with a New England accent and it
  • 00:01:54
    was always with New England that Robert
  • 00:01:56
    Frost was Associated particularly the
  • 00:01:58
    states of Vermont and New Hampshire
  • 00:02:00
    uh when people thought about Robert
  • 00:02:02
    Frost or thought about Robert Frost's
  • 00:02:04
    poetry because frequently people assumed
  • 00:02:07
    whenever Robert Frost wrote a poem The
  • 00:02:09
    Voice in those poems were the voice of
  • 00:02:11
    the man that the the poet and the
  • 00:02:13
    speaker of the poems were identical and
  • 00:02:16
    within those poems they found certain
  • 00:02:18
    values that were associated with New
  • 00:02:20
    England or more broadly America and
  • 00:02:23
    those values were affirmations of uh
  • 00:02:26
    certain cherished Notions or Traditions
  • 00:02:28
    that Americans deeply felt and so when
  • 00:02:31
    they heard Robert Frost read or when
  • 00:02:34
    they read his words silently on the page
  • 00:02:36
    themselves they had a wonderful sense of
  • 00:02:39
    a deeper affirmations of things that
  • 00:02:41
    they uh felt and even more than that
  • 00:02:44
    since Robert Frost wrote in a language
  • 00:02:46
    that was apparently straightforward very
  • 00:02:49
    plain very simple no fancy abstruse uh
  • 00:02:54
    phraseologies uh his audience felt very
  • 00:02:56
    comfortable with him uh felt very
  • 00:02:58
    comfortable with the man with his
  • 00:03:00
    language and with his values uh so the
  • 00:03:04
    uh in many ways as I say Robert Frost
  • 00:03:07
    the person and the poet seemed to
  • 00:03:10
    epitomize American values and
  • 00:03:12
    affirmations in straightforward language
  • 00:03:15
    and uh it was for that reason I suspect
  • 00:03:18
    that uh he received those popular
  • 00:03:20
    recognitions that he did as illustrated
  • 00:03:22
    by the pulit surprise given four times
  • 00:03:26
    uh having said that having established
  • 00:03:29
    uh uh Robert Frost the the if if we had
  • 00:03:33
    had a poet laurate in the early part of
  • 00:03:34
    the 20th century which we didn't we do
  • 00:03:36
    now as it turns out but if we had had a
  • 00:03:39
    poet laurate surely Robert Frost would
  • 00:03:41
    have been our poet laurate for surely
  • 00:03:44
    the last 40 Years of his life uh but now
  • 00:03:49
    here's the but uh on his 85th birthday
  • 00:03:55
    1959 uh there was a a literary party
  • 00:03:57
    held in his honor in which uh a certain
  • 00:04:01
    heresy was introduced by one of the
  • 00:04:03
    leading literary critics of America at
  • 00:04:04
    the time Lionel trilling Lionel trilling
  • 00:04:07
    in toasting Robert Frost on his 85th
  • 00:04:09
    birthday introduced the notion that
  • 00:04:11
    Robert Frost poetry is not as
  • 00:04:14
    affirmative or cheerful or bright as
  • 00:04:17
    most of his audience originally assumed
  • 00:04:21
    uh in fact he spoke of Robert Frost as
  • 00:04:23
    one of our terrifying poets he spoke of
  • 00:04:26
    Robert Frost's poems as dark parable
  • 00:04:30
    of The Human Condition and this needless
  • 00:04:32
    to say shocked the audience uh when uh
  • 00:04:37
    uh the response was recorded uh for
  • 00:04:40
    weeks for months even for years after
  • 00:04:42
    that people wondered how it was that
  • 00:04:44
    Lion of trilling had the the gall or the
  • 00:04:47
    nerve to question what turned out to be
  • 00:04:49
    one of America's literary institutions
  • 00:04:52
    Robert Frost Frost himself interestingly
  • 00:04:54
    enough never disputed uh tring's
  • 00:04:58
    comments he simply uh in some sense uh
  • 00:05:02
    recorded his own discomfort at being
  • 00:05:03
    looked at so closely um the um uh almost
  • 00:05:09
    concomitant with this uh heresy if we
  • 00:05:12
    can call it of lion of trilling uh the
  • 00:05:15
    official biography of Robert Frost began
  • 00:05:18
    to appear this is written in three
  • 00:05:19
    volumes by Lawrence Thompson Robert
  • 00:05:22
    Frost himself had said to Thompson that
  • 00:05:24
    he wanted him to be the official
  • 00:05:26
    biographer and he did so and as the
  • 00:05:29
    three volumes began to appear certain
  • 00:05:32
    aspects of Robert Frost's personal life
  • 00:05:34
    showed up which turned out to be uh in
  • 00:05:37
    many ways contradictory to the Public
  • 00:05:40
    Image that Frost presented as this
  • 00:05:42
    gentle
  • 00:05:43
    grandfatherly uh retainer or or
  • 00:05:46
    receptacle of American values and and
  • 00:05:49
    and
  • 00:05:50
    affirmations uh in fact it seemed as if
  • 00:05:53
    um uh the personal events of frost life
  • 00:05:57
    uh were entirely opposite that out of
  • 00:05:59
    his public life uh one of his children
  • 00:06:02
    suicided apparently is a direct result
  • 00:06:04
    of a frost very harsh treatment of him
  • 00:06:07
    throughout his life uh Frost
  • 00:06:09
    relationship with his wife was
  • 00:06:11
    apparently a very bitter and awful one
  • 00:06:14
    um Frost relationship with other poets
  • 00:06:17
    with critics with people at the
  • 00:06:18
    universities at which he's taught were
  • 00:06:20
    very CTIC um the uh one phrase which in
  • 00:06:24
    some sense to to my mind sums it up was
  • 00:06:26
    told to me by the poet Anthony hick said
  • 00:06:28
    Frost said him you know when I die I
  • 00:06:31
    want the whole world to die with
  • 00:06:33
    me uh now as you can see this
  • 00:06:37
    particular uh understanding of the
  • 00:06:40
    private Robert Frost is had great
  • 00:06:42
    variance with with with the public Frost
  • 00:06:45
    and it strikes me that uh one way in
  • 00:06:48
    which we could uh test this particular
  • 00:06:52
    kind of doubleness is to take a look at
  • 00:06:55
    a poem of Robert Frost which to my mind
  • 00:06:57
    if it's not the most popular poem that
  • 00:07:00
    Robert Frost has ever written it's
  • 00:07:03
    surely one of the top two and the poem
  • 00:07:06
    that I'm referring to of course is the
  • 00:07:07
    road not taken you should all have it on
  • 00:07:09
    on your hand up um and um as I um said
  • 00:07:14
    to my colleagues earlier if there is a
  • 00:07:17
    single poem that American High School
  • 00:07:19
    students would have read uh throughout
  • 00:07:22
    their career it would probably be this
  • 00:07:24
    one or the other most popular Frost poem
  • 00:07:27
    Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
  • 00:07:30
    and um the reason why I uh choose this
  • 00:07:34
    poem is that uh its popularity I think
  • 00:07:37
    mirrors the kind of popularity that
  • 00:07:38
    Frost had throughout the first half of
  • 00:07:41
    the 20th century uh and yet I think a
  • 00:07:43
    close reading will reveal some of the
  • 00:07:45
    discrepancies that we might find in
  • 00:07:47
    Frost personal life so uh before doing
  • 00:07:50
    anything else I'd like to as I usually
  • 00:07:52
    do in my poetry classes simply read the
  • 00:07:54
    poem uh the title is the road not
  • 00:07:58
    taken two roads diverged in a yellow
  • 00:08:00
    wood and sorry I could not travel both
  • 00:08:03
    and be one traveler long I stood and
  • 00:08:06
    looked down one as far as I could to
  • 00:08:08
    where it bent in the undergrowth then
  • 00:08:10
    took the other as just as fair and
  • 00:08:13
    having perhaps the better claim because
  • 00:08:15
    it was grassy and wanted wear though as
  • 00:08:18
    for that the passing there had warned
  • 00:08:20
    them really about the same and both that
  • 00:08:23
    morning equally lay in leaves no step
  • 00:08:26
    had trotten blank oh I kept the first
  • 00:08:29
    for another day yet knowing how way
  • 00:08:31
    leads on to way I doubt it if I should
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    ever come back I shall be telling this
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    with a sigh somewhere ages and ages
  • 00:08:40
    hence two roads diverged in a wood and I
  • 00:08:45
    I took the One Less Traveled by and that
  • 00:08:47
    has made all the
  • 00:08:49
    difference now uh my suspicion is that
  • 00:08:52
    the appeal of this poem not not only in
  • 00:08:56
    high school curricula but also across
  • 00:08:59
    the broad American public resides in the
  • 00:09:02
    way in which people have seen this uh
  • 00:09:05
    extra apparently extraordinarily simple
  • 00:09:08
    poem as a parable for basic decisions
  • 00:09:11
    one has to make in life I mean if you
  • 00:09:13
    could think it's almost a cliche to be
  • 00:09:15
    talking about walking down the path of
  • 00:09:17
    Life the road splits in two ways one has
  • 00:09:21
    to make a fundamental decision uh about
  • 00:09:23
    which road to choose and then people
  • 00:09:26
    think back about that yes that's exactly
  • 00:09:27
    what's taking place in the poem and then
  • 00:09:29
    they remember the ringing conclusion of
  • 00:09:32
    this poem it says I took the One Less
  • 00:09:34
    Traveled by and that has made all the
  • 00:09:37
    difference and in that those those lines
  • 00:09:40
    in those last two lines people hear an
  • 00:09:43
    affirmation of non-conformity don't go
  • 00:09:46
    with the crowd Go Your Own Way just
  • 00:09:48
    because everyone's going down one road
  • 00:09:51
    you can take the path Less Traveled by
  • 00:09:53
    you can go in your own way and that is
  • 00:09:57
    the right thing to do because that will
  • 00:09:59
    give you the personal character that's
  • 00:10:02
    necessary to have the sense of having
  • 00:10:04
    had a meaningful life as simply
  • 00:10:05
    conforming to others
  • 00:10:07
    expectations U now that last phrase the
  • 00:10:11
    last two lines of the poem to my mind
  • 00:10:14
    has sunk into the collective
  • 00:10:15
    consciousness of Americans along in the
  • 00:10:18
    same way that um say Henry David Theo's
  • 00:10:21
    famous remark in in Walden when he
  • 00:10:23
    speaks about marching to a different
  • 00:10:25
    drama has the same kind of affirmation
  • 00:10:28
    you go your own way you listen to your
  • 00:10:29
    own insights you don't pay attention to
  • 00:10:32
    others um and perhaps I can give an
  • 00:10:34
    illustration of this because I mean just
  • 00:10:36
    to show this is not simply something
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    that uh has been understood by uh let's
  • 00:10:41
    say superficial readers but also some of
  • 00:10:44
    the uh most astute and and surely at
  • 00:10:47
    least in the illustration I have in mind
  • 00:10:49
    some of the Geniuses of America have
  • 00:10:51
    turned to this particular phrase as um
  • 00:10:54
    uh an illustration and an affirmation of
  • 00:10:57
    something they held uh deeply true uh
  • 00:11:01
    Frank Lloyd Wright probably the most
  • 00:11:03
    outstanding architect in the United
  • 00:11:05
    States uh also wrote a great deal about
  • 00:11:08
    his own life many say he wrote much too
  • 00:11:11
    much about his own life the um but right
  • 00:11:13
    at the beginning of his autobiography he
  • 00:11:16
    retells a tale of walking out with his
  • 00:11:19
    uncle Peter a presbyterian Minister up
  • 00:11:21
    through the small snow hills behind his
  • 00:11:24
    house in Wisconsin uh he describes his
  • 00:11:27
    uncle Peter as a ramrod of a man a
  • 00:11:29
    person who had a sense of moral
  • 00:11:31
    certainty and Direction uh and in some
  • 00:11:34
    ways was assigned the task of taking
  • 00:11:36
    little Frankie out for a walk not only
  • 00:11:39
    for exercise but also for moral
  • 00:11:41
    edification now he let go of Frankie's
  • 00:11:44
    hand and he walked to the top of a small
  • 00:11:47
    hill uh Frank being seven or eight years
  • 00:11:50
    old Ran this way that way picked up a
  • 00:11:52
    flower made a snowball whatever when he
  • 00:11:54
    got to the top of the hill to join his
  • 00:11:55
    uncle the uncle grabbed him by the
  • 00:11:57
    Scruff his neck turned him around around
  • 00:11:59
    and showed him the two sets of tracks
  • 00:12:01
    Uncle peters's which ran directly from
  • 00:12:03
    the house to the top of the hill the
  • 00:12:06
    shortest distance between two points is
  • 00:12:07
    a straight line in physics and morality
  • 00:12:11
    um and then there was this terrible
  • 00:12:13
    zigzag here there their uh route that
  • 00:12:16
    was taken by Young Frank Lloyd R and uh
  • 00:12:21
    Uncle Peter of course wanted to
  • 00:12:23
    illustrate what he should have done and
  • 00:12:26
    then Frank Lloyd Wright says
  • 00:12:29
    and without making any reference he says
  • 00:12:33
    I took the The Road Less Traveled by
  • 00:12:36
    collapsing this and that's made all the
  • 00:12:38
    difference now Frank ly W assumed that
  • 00:12:40
    anyone reading this would key in to that
  • 00:12:43
    Robert Frost poem they know what he was
  • 00:12:45
    talking about if you're in with the in
  • 00:12:47
    crage you say uncle Peter and all those
  • 00:12:49
    people who look in terms of conventional
  • 00:12:50
    or consensus ways of looking at things
  • 00:12:52
    they go that way but me Robert Frost and
  • 00:12:55
    you Gentle reader we know what we're
  • 00:12:57
    really going to to do
  • 00:12:59
    now I say that because um one of the uh
  • 00:13:04
    the problems with a poem of this sort is
  • 00:13:06
    that once you take a closer look at it
  • 00:13:09
    it seems that those kind of values and
  • 00:13:12
    those kind of
  • 00:13:13
    affirmations uh begin to dissolve now I
  • 00:13:17
    mean if we could if just go back to the
  • 00:13:20
    poem there are certain to my mind
  • 00:13:22
    critical issues that people who have
  • 00:13:24
    read this poem now for let's see it was
  • 00:13:27
    published in 1916
  • 00:13:29
    uh so that would make it um um 50 60
  • 00:13:34
    70 uh uh 76 years uh the critical
  • 00:13:39
    question that I put is this how do we
  • 00:13:42
    know that the person speaking in this
  • 00:13:45
    poem took the road Let's Travel by well
  • 00:13:49
    one returns to the poem says two roads
  • 00:13:51
    diverg in a yellow wood and sorry I
  • 00:13:53
    could not travel both and be one
  • 00:13:55
    traveler long I stood and looked down
  • 00:13:58
    one as far far as I could to where it
  • 00:13:59
    bent in the undergrowth that first
  • 00:14:01
    stanza is not talking about having gone
  • 00:14:03
    one way or the other but that point at
  • 00:14:05
    the fork in the
  • 00:14:07
    road the speaker looks down one for as
  • 00:14:11
    long as he
  • 00:14:12
    could and then he says then took the
  • 00:14:16
    other now this is very curious because
  • 00:14:19
    what this says is that the road that was
  • 00:14:21
    examined is not the one that's taken at
  • 00:14:23
    all and the other one's taken very
  • 00:14:25
    quickly doesn't say looked at the other
  • 00:14:27
    one for a very long time look down this
  • 00:14:29
    one then took the other very quickly and
  • 00:14:32
    he says as just as fair and then adds
  • 00:14:36
    and this is usually the lines that
  • 00:14:37
    people recall it says and having perhaps
  • 00:14:39
    the better claim because it was grassy
  • 00:14:42
    and wanted wear and there I said well
  • 00:14:45
    there it is uh this road has grass
  • 00:14:47
    growing on it presumably that one
  • 00:14:49
    doesn't and therefore no one has trod on
  • 00:14:52
    this particular path many people must
  • 00:14:54
    have Tred on the other and therefore he
  • 00:14:56
    took The Road Less travel by and yet
  • 00:14:59
    we continue and it says though as for
  • 00:15:03
    that the passing there had warned them
  • 00:15:06
    really about the same that that is to
  • 00:15:09
    say in terms of whatever coverage that
  • 00:15:11
    there's on if there's grass on the one
  • 00:15:14
    was about the same amount on the other I
  • 00:15:17
    mean whatever evidence you would use to
  • 00:15:19
    say that the one is more or less
  • 00:15:20
    traveled simply you say wait a second
  • 00:15:22
    they're about the same and then he adds
  • 00:15:25
    even
  • 00:15:26
    further and both that morning equally
  • 00:15:29
    lay in leaves no step had trotten black
  • 00:15:33
    now I mean we know from the yellow wood
  • 00:15:35
    that this is an ainal
  • 00:15:36
    scene uh one can easily imagine the
  • 00:15:39
    situation where on an Autumn morning the
  • 00:15:42
    leaves have fallen down uh and as
  • 00:15:45
    happens with moist leaves once people
  • 00:15:48
    have walked on leaves they will turn
  • 00:15:50
    black from the oxidation but this
  • 00:15:53
    particular
  • 00:15:54
    morning the leaves are equally covering
  • 00:15:57
    both roads so aside from the fact that
  • 00:16:01
    he is the first person there there's no
  • 00:16:03
    way that he can tell from either the
  • 00:16:06
    grass which he now we know he cannot see
  • 00:16:08
    because they're both covered by leaves
  • 00:16:10
    uh there is no way that this speaker the
  • 00:16:12
    person in this poem who has to make the
  • 00:16:14
    decision can decide on the basis of use
  • 00:16:18
    which road is more or less traveled by
  • 00:16:21
    uh and he stops at that point having
  • 00:16:23
    told us on the first here's what I'm
  • 00:16:25
    going to do I'm going I look down
  • 00:16:27
    examine this road here I'm going to take
  • 00:16:29
    the other and here's why I did it but as
  • 00:16:32
    it turns out rather than give us
  • 00:16:34
    evidence it becomes equivocation I did
  • 00:16:36
    this and then he equivocates and then he
  • 00:16:38
    equivocates yet again and what we have
  • 00:16:41
    uh at the in the middle of that third
  • 00:16:43
    Stan he says oh I kept the first for
  • 00:16:46
    another day yet knowing how way leads on
  • 00:16:49
    to way I doubt it if I should ever come
  • 00:16:53
    back now uh to to my mind this
  • 00:16:56
    introduces a very different issue in
  • 00:16:58
    this poem what what we have in those
  • 00:17:01
    lines there is someone who's saying well
  • 00:17:03
    I'm taking this particular Road
  • 00:17:05
    here but as he says in the beginning of
  • 00:17:08
    the poem I really want to go both ways I
  • 00:17:10
    wish I could do everything but of course
  • 00:17:13
    each time one makes a decision to go in
  • 00:17:14
    One Direction perforce a door closes
  • 00:17:17
    someplace you can't go in the other
  • 00:17:19
    direction so
  • 00:17:22
    uh he says finally in this last stanza I
  • 00:17:26
    shall be telling this with a side
  • 00:17:29
    somewhere ages and ages hence and this I
  • 00:17:31
    think is a very important shift in this
  • 00:17:33
    poem because up to this point the
  • 00:17:36
    person's talking has been telling us
  • 00:17:38
    about a decision that he's recently made
  • 00:17:41
    uh remember he the the the intense in
  • 00:17:43
    this poem is such that he's speaking at
  • 00:17:45
    a time not too long after he's gone down
  • 00:17:48
    the one road uh he's thinking back about
  • 00:17:51
    the decision that he made at that point
  • 00:17:53
    and then suddenly in the last stanza he
  • 00:17:55
    jumps forward to the future and says I
  • 00:17:58
    shall be telling this with a sigh and of
  • 00:18:00
    course a very interesting thing what
  • 00:18:01
    kind of a sigh is that is that a sigh of
  • 00:18:04
    contentment of nostalgia of regret H uh
  • 00:18:09
    somewhere ages and ages hence and now we
  • 00:18:12
    have the last three lines in some sense
  • 00:18:14
    tells us the whole poem again it's a
  • 00:18:16
    little collapse of the whole poem
  • 00:18:17
    because he picks up the the opening line
  • 00:18:19
    and then jumps to the end but notice
  • 00:18:21
    this slight revision that takes place he
  • 00:18:24
    says two roads diverged in a wood and I
  • 00:18:29
    hesitation I took the One Less Traveled
  • 00:18:32
    by and that made all the
  • 00:18:35
    difference now if if you follow the
  • 00:18:38
    point
  • 00:18:39
    here the evidence that has been
  • 00:18:42
    presented to us in three stanas
  • 00:18:44
    beforehand contradicts that statement
  • 00:18:47
    that is to say the person who is
  • 00:18:49
    speaking who is saying I took the road L
  • 00:18:52
    travel by presumably from the vantage
  • 00:18:54
    point in the future ages and ages hence
  • 00:18:56
    from the vantage point of old age I
  • 00:18:58
    remember back to that crucial decision I
  • 00:19:00
    made in my youth and I made the right
  • 00:19:04
    decision or at least it sounds that way
  • 00:19:07
    when people listen to the poem as I say
  • 00:19:10
    they remember what seems to be that
  • 00:19:11
    ringing affirmation in the last two
  • 00:19:13
    lines I took the one less travel by and
  • 00:19:17
    that's made all the difference he
  • 00:19:18
    doesn't say in this poem whether it's a
  • 00:19:20
    good difference or a bad difference but
  • 00:19:22
    most people want to hear the good
  • 00:19:24
    difference and so they say that's the
  • 00:19:25
    way it must be and so taking The Road
  • 00:19:27
    Less traveled by is a good thing so good
  • 00:19:30
    that it seems to blur people's memories
  • 00:19:32
    of the first three stanzas of the poem
  • 00:19:35
    uh our desire as Americans to want to
  • 00:19:38
    hear that affirmation of non-conformity
  • 00:19:40
    apparently has and this has gone on now
  • 00:19:43
    as I say for uh 70 73 years in which
  • 00:19:47
    people have read the poem and most
  • 00:19:50
    readers come away feeling that this is a
  • 00:19:52
    poem that's affirming non-conformity and
  • 00:19:54
    yet I would suggest something entirely
  • 00:19:56
    different if we look at that at the end
  • 00:19:59
    we have a speaker of the poem who's
  • 00:20:01
    saying uh I took the on less travel by
  • 00:20:04
    telling us that is that in the future I
  • 00:20:06
    will provide um a happy rationalization
  • 00:20:11
    of my
  • 00:20:12
    experience whether the decision was a
  • 00:20:15
    good one or a bad one it's going to look
  • 00:20:17
    good to me way down the road that is to
  • 00:20:20
    say that the speaker is revealing a
  • 00:20:22
    characteristic alas about human nature
  • 00:20:25
    is that given a choice between uh
  • 00:20:28
    thinking well of ourselves or not we
  • 00:20:30
    will think well of ourselves we will
  • 00:20:31
    even if it comes to it bend the facts
  • 00:20:34
    somewhat so that uh uh our understanding
  • 00:20:37
    of ourselves is a positive rather than a
  • 00:20:40
    negative one uh the reason I say that is
  • 00:20:42
    that that is to say that those last two
  • 00:20:43
    lines rather than affirming
  • 00:20:45
    non-conformity might be revealing uh a
  • 00:20:49
    capacity for rationalization or even
  • 00:20:51
    self-deception on the part of people has
  • 00:20:54
    to do with something that strikes me
  • 00:20:56
    that most people have not focused on
  • 00:20:59
    that is the title of this poem this is
  • 00:21:02
    not about the road that the speaker has
  • 00:21:05
    taken the title is the road not taken
  • 00:21:10
    what's on this person's mind at the
  • 00:21:12
    present moment of this poem looking back
  • 00:21:15
    to a decision that he made not too long
  • 00:21:17
    before is a terrible sense of what if I
  • 00:21:20
    have made the wrong decision it's a
  • 00:21:22
    sense of
  • 00:21:24
    equivocation and and even more than that
  • 00:21:26
    it strikes me that one could uh very
  • 00:21:29
    easily uh speak to this issue could it
  • 00:21:33
    be that indecision and equivocation lead
  • 00:21:36
    in a psychological sense inevitably to
  • 00:21:39
    the kind of rationalization that we find
  • 00:21:42
    at the end of this poem is there a cause
  • 00:21:45
    and consequence if looked at carefully
  • 00:21:47
    in this poem which is suggesting
  • 00:21:49
    something about the fallible human
  • 00:21:53
    nature that we have always to try to
  • 00:21:55
    think best of ourselves when in fact
  • 00:21:57
    we're least certain certain of our
  • 00:21:59
    values what what what I find astounding
  • 00:22:01
    about this I mean surely however you
  • 00:22:03
    want to look at the the ending of that
  • 00:22:06
    poem the clear thing that remains is
  • 00:22:09
    that the final two lines are not
  • 00:22:11
    supported by but rather uh denied or
  • 00:22:14
    contradicted by the poem that precedes
  • 00:22:17
    them uh what I'd like to leave you with
  • 00:22:20
    as I since I was trying in this
  • 00:22:23
    particular short time to make uh a point
  • 00:22:25
    about Robert Frost the man
  • 00:22:28
    and Robert Frost's poetry what I'd like
  • 00:22:31
    to leave you with is uh this
  • 00:22:35
    parallel surely uh what we Now
  • 00:22:38
    understand from Robert Frost's
  • 00:22:40
    biographies is that the gentle
  • 00:22:43
    grandfatherly uh New England farmer who
  • 00:22:46
    spoke apparently so affirmatively and in
  • 00:22:49
    such simple language about American
  • 00:22:51
    values had a darker Underside in his
  • 00:22:55
    personal life and that he spent a good
  • 00:22:57
    part of of his public life in some sense
  • 00:23:00
    masking or holding down or at least
  • 00:23:02
    disguising that darker
  • 00:23:04
    Underside as an illustration of that we
  • 00:23:07
    turn to the road not taken surely I said
  • 00:23:10
    one of his most popular poems and I mean
  • 00:23:13
    that in both the best and now in a
  • 00:23:15
    different sense that is to say a poem
  • 00:23:17
    which has been popularly interpreted in
  • 00:23:20
    one fashion but a close reading of the
  • 00:23:22
    poem reveals a darker Underside a darker
  • 00:23:26
    uh uh depth than that most people have
  • 00:23:29
    passed by and in an odd way it might be
  • 00:23:31
    particularly appropriate that the road
  • 00:23:33
    not taken this most popular of poems is
  • 00:23:38
    exactly parallel to Robert Frost this
  • 00:23:41
    most popular of poets all right I'll
  • 00:23:43
    leave you there
  • 00:23:45
    today
Tags
  • Robert Frost
  • poetry
  • public image
  • The Road Not Taken
  • Pulitzer Prize
  • American values
  • Lionel Trilling
  • self-deception
  • non-conformity
  • human nature