Sample Poetry Paper (English 102)

Writer 3
writes, “The problem of choice is in a way even more elementary, since neither selfinterest,
moral obligation, nor even curiosity provides a real basis for preferring one road
to the other” (17). By choosing a certain path, “[b]ecause it was grassy and wanted wear”
(Frost 143), the speaker must assume a sense of risk, especially when it is a path that has
not been traveled often. This risk is made more apparent by the fact that previous people,
faced with the choice of which road to take, chose the other one.
We gain insight into the traveler’s personality that he is one who does not follow
the crowd but assumes his own identity by taking the path to the unknown, although he
does contemplate whether or not the right decision has been made. The speaker wants to
travel down both paths, but he realizes that he has made a decision and cannot look back
once he has made it. In this regard, Nitchie says, “For all that the act of choice is
presented as whimsical and unmotivated, the speaker is aware that his choice will have
consequences, though he cannot tell what those consequences will be” (160). The speaker
must trust his judgment to be the correct choice for leading his course of life. In the end
he is satisfied with his choice: “I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the
difference” (Frost 143). To the speaker, what really made the difference is that he was in
control of his decision and he chose to take the less traveled road; therefore, he is the man
he is today because of that decision.
These two poems are similar in a variety of ways. Both poems consist of four
stanzas and an abundance of rhyme and imagery. These two poems are very well known
for their simplicity. However, they both can be interpreted in many ways and easily
misunderstood. In the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” the speaker
takes in a lovely scene, is tempted to stay longer, but acknowledges a burden of