WHY SHOULD WE LOVE POETRY?

“Spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected

in tranquility”(William Wordsworth)
““Poetry expresses reality through the embellishment of
beautiful language.”
"Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it
is the impassioned expression which is in the
countenance of all Science." (in Lyrical Ballads, 2nd
ed., 1800)
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After the lesson discussion, the learners should have

 gained significant insights on of making big decisions in

life;
 reflected on the ethical and philosophical dimensions of
the decisions they already made or will make in their
lives;
 acquired the basic skills of understanding a poem
literally and critically;
 deduced the underlying generalizations of life in the
poem;
CHOICE & COST
Every choice you make has a cost because choosing
to do one thing means giving up the opportunity to do
something else.
Faced with the same options , different people make
different choices because each person has his / her
own way of making decisions based on different
values and beliefs.
When faced with the need to make a decision we try
to think about the cost and guess the outcome.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
BY ROBERT FROST
© Michal Preisler
 THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both And both that morning equally lay
And be one traveler, long I stood In leaves no step had trodden black.
And looked down one as far as I could Oh, I kept the first for another day!
To where it bent in the undergrowth; Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear; I shall be telling this with a sigh
Though as for that the passing there Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Had worn them really about the same, Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzUm0wqhE7E
ANALYSIS AND LITERARY TERMS
 What is the poem about ?
The poem is about a dilemma, the need to come to a
decision / solve a problem
 Who is talking in the poem?
 What relevant experiences you are reminded of after reading
the poem?
 What do you think the fork in the road could represent in the
speaker's life?

 What is the theme of the poem

 Theme – the central philosophical idea of a story or poem. We
can usually find the theme by asking ourselves – what is the
poem / story about?

© Michal Preisler
 Is the speaker really standing in a forest
thinking which way to go?
 What does the road symbolize ?

The road = Life

 Symbolism - the use of a concrete image
(symbol) to represent an abstract idea.
Autumn: Late maturity
Trees: boundary space
 Humans can observe and think critically about
humanity and the divine under the shade of
these trees or standing nearby.

 Trees allow the speakers to engage with nature

and experience moments of revelation.
 What is the main dilemma in the poem?
The speaker is at a fork in the road – he has
to choose which way to go.
 The fork in the road is a metaphor for a point
in life when you need to make a choice.
 A metaphor is a type of comparison in which
one thing is described as if it was something
else (example: life is a box of chocolates)
METAPHORS
"Love is an alchemist that can transmute poison into food-
-and a spaniel that prefers even punishment from one
hand to caresses from another." (Charles Colton,
Lacon)

"Men's words are bullets, that their enemies take up and

make use of against them." (George Savile, Maxims)

"A man may break a word with you, sir, and words are but
wind." (William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors)

"But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely

hill."(William Sharp, "The Lonely Hunter")
 How does the speaker solve his dilemma?
 He compares the two roads
 He weighs the pros and cons

 He tries to foresee the future

 Which road does he choose?

 theless traveled by
 The more adventurous / the less conventional
??
PROBLEM SOLVING

Problem solving is a thinking skill the involves:

 Identifying the problem

 Considering the options

 Weighing the pros and cons of each option

 Reaching a decision
 How do you think the speaker feels about his
choice ?
 Last stanza takes place in the future
 Sigh of relief ? Sigh of regret ?

 The “what if ??”

 Why is the poem called “The Road NOT

Taken” and not “The Road Taken” ?
WHAT IS THE THEME OF THE POEM?

Theme – the central philosophical idea of a story or

poem. We can usually find the theme by asking
ourselves – what is the poem / story about?
 Life presents many choices, the choices we make
determine our future.“
 Nature allows people to gain knowledge about
themselves and to reach for new insights, but nature
itself does not provide answers.
 Man is endowed with free will to make choices
in his life but it doesn’t mean that he has total
control of his destiny because God is secretly
working out his plan to each one.
 The beauty of the natural world—and our
appreciation of that beauty—helps us worship
God.
 The meaning of life and the purpose of human
existence can be discovered through nature.
QUOTABLE QUOTES

 “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead

where there is no path and leave a trail” Ralph
Waldo Emerson quotes (American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist,
1803-1882)
 “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he
has the courage to lose sight of the
shore.” Andre Gide quotes (French writer, humanist
and moralist, 1947 nobel prize for literature, 1869-1951)
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for
you," declares the LORD, "plans to
prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a
future."
REFERENCES
http://thinkexist.com/quotations/adventure/
http://smiley963.tripod.com/motivational.htm
Ackley, Elizabeth, et. Al.( 1991).American Literature. New York:
McGraw Hill.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!!!!
 Robert Frost 1874-1963

Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California

but spent most of his life in New England, a rural
area in the north east of the United States. The
area is characterized by hills, woods, farms and
small towns. Frost himself worked for many years
as a farmer, in addition to teaching English and
writing poems. His poems reflect the sights and
sounds of where he lived, the fields, farms and
woods and scenes of everyday life. All those
elements make Frost’s poems accessible, leading
readers to understand the deeper truths behind
seemingly simple ideas

© Michal Preisler