Sample Poetry Paper (English 102)

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Writer 4 obligations. This burden appears in the line, “But I have promises to keep” (Frost 1070). As one critic says, “In ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ there is the attractiveness, the seductive and dark beauty of the woods filling up with snow. But there are also the promises to be kept. The speaker shows his humanity by his full awareness of this beauty, but he defines it finally by returning to the world of action and obligation” (Ryan 133). However, in the poem “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker must choose which path to take, even though it appears he will be faced with second-guessing himself somewhere down the line. This dilemma is apparent in the lines “I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence:”(Frost 143). One critic describes this sigh as follows: “The ‘sigh,’ of course helps characterize the ‘I,’ and provides the fist hint that the poem is a gentle parody of the kind of person whose life in the present is distorted by nostalgic regrets for the possibilities of the past, who is less concerned for the road taken than for ‘the road not taken’” (Barry 12). In both of these poems, the speakers face life-altering decisions. In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” the speaker must choose between succumbing to loneliness and depression or realizing there is much to be gained by living a happier life. In “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker must choose between two paths, not knowing what the future holds and if he will ever have the chance to find out what was passed up. In short, these two poems indicate a human being’s struggle with uncertainty and the inner turmoil that surrounds many of life’s decisions.
Writer 5 Works Cited Barry, Elaine. Robert Frost. New York: Frederick Unger Publishing Co., 1973. 12. Cox, James M. “Robert Frost and the Edge of the Clearing.” The Virginia Quarterly Review. January, 1959: 144-154. Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Henry Holt & Co., 1916. Rpt. in Literature: The Human Experience. 8 th ed. Eds. Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz. Boston: Bedford Books, 2004. 1070. Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Henry Holt & Co., 1916. Rpt. in Literature: The Human Experience. 8 th ed. Eds. Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz. Boston: Bedford Books, 2004. 142-143. Nitchie, George W. Human Values in the <strong>Poetry</strong> of Robert Frost. Durham: Duke University Press, 1960. 17, 44, 160. Ryan, Alvan S. “Frost and Emerson: Voice and Vision.” The Massachusetts Review January, 1959: 124-137.
Page 1 and 2: Writer 1 Joe T. Writer Mr. Langley
Page 3: Writer 3 writes, “The problem of

Sample Poetry Paper (English 102)

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