Symbolism of the Journey

Symbolism of the Journey

Introduction

This paper compares and contrasts two literary works that are “The Road Not Taken” (Frost) and “A Worn Path” (Welty). The theme chosen is Symbolism of the Journey. We will be comparing the symbolism of the journey theme in both the literary works.

Thesis Statement

The symbolism theme used in poem and short story helps the reader to understand the view point and purpose of the author's writing. In this paper I will be reviewing two literary works that are “The Road Not Taken” and short story; “A Worn Path”. I will show how, through symbolism, the journey is not necessarily the trip from the starting point to the ending point. While analyzing the readings using the archetypal approach, you can see the journeys the characters take are more of a journey through life.

Discussion and Analysis

After being named poet laureate in 1997, Robert Pinsky it took a year-long poll to determine who was America's favorite poet. With more than 18,000 votes cast, from participants aged five to 97, Frost came out on top. When participants were asked which poems they most liked to read, they most often cited "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."

One of Frost's best-known poems, opening his third book, Mountain Interval, "The Road Not Taken" was first published in the August 1915 issue of the Atlantic Monthly (Hornedo, 2002). While Pinsky's poll demonstrates the poem's broad appeal, that appeal is at least partly due to its being most often read by people who do not read it closely enough to discover its complexities or who quickly dismiss those complexities in favor of the trite paraphrases that come to mind when people are asked what the poem might be "about." Many attempt answers such as "taking a different road from that of the masses" or "being an individual" or "finding one's own road in life." And while none of these answers would be altogether incorrect, they all reduce the subtle complexities of the poem to platitudes.

Part of what accounts for the popularity of "The Road Not Taken" is that Frost, until the latter half of the twentieth century, was viewed as a nature poet, in the purest New England sense. But beginning with Randall Jarrell and continuing through Lionel Trilling, Roberts W. French, and others, the dark side of Frost or the "other" Frost, as Jarrell phrased it, has been given much attention. It has become clear that to know Frost is to apprehend the darkness in his poems as well as the light, and this darkness is evident in "The Road Not Taken" when it is read closely (George, 1991).

There is some biographical support for a cursory reading of the poem. Frost wrote a portion of the poem while in Gloucestershire, England. Lawrance Thompson writes that Frost had said to his friend Edward Thomas after "one of their best flower-gathering walks" that "No matter which road you take, you'll always sigh, and wish you'd taken another" ...