Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

[caty54321]

whenever i hear Robert Frost i always think of snow...

[chuksnwagbaraji]

He just BLEW my mind.

and boom goes the dynamite

[Gromitdog1]

I think this is more of a poem ridiculing the notion of free will, and how we will retrospectively justify our decisions and use free will as a crutch. He doesn't say why he takes one path or another, but correctly asserts that in the future he will boast of how clever his 'decision' was.

[DeMarkieSade]

Won the Pulitzer Prize four times, Wow! Dynamic. Lawrence Thompson maybe an individual to look into as well, given that Frost hand picked Thompson to pen his biography.

[waterslane]

Brilliant analysis. I've been reading this poem in the last 20 years. Now I'm really LOST ! =)

[milomanification]

@kondoak 'the american ideal of non-conformity'... well thats a lie

[dbinkholder]

That is exactly how I was taught the poem as well. I completely agree. Regardless of how you "want" to understand the poem, the simple words and logic of the poem speak otherwise.

[PwnageMewsic]

Hey my friend goes to this college! lol

[jblw189]

Nice...it's about retrospection.

[cynthiahaylee]

omg my language arts class is doing poetry andi pick Robert Frost!! today we listend to this poem The Road Not Taken. it was awesome!

[joebstarsurfer]

this is funny .I dont believe in god but matter of faith ,chicken and egg lol.you cant measure some things .I would have been laughing.

[thisisacunt]

@joebstarsurfer you dont beleave in God you dick head

[truelieswow]

@thisisacunt clearly you don't believe in spelling.

[thisisacunt]

@truelieswow i believe in getting my dick sucked so what you waiting for

[truelieswow]

@thisisacunt your name really is appropriate!

[thisisacunt]

@truelieswow who are you where your from are you a girl

[truelieswow]

@thisisacunt fuck off back to your cave, troll

[thisisacunt]

@truelieswow il kick you ass lady

[MrGabPiano]

You could also see it this way: The road you take will always be the road less traveled, because it is your personal and therefore unique way of life. In this respect you really ARE the road or at least you define its boundaries by your decisions, actions and interpretations. Referring to the title, the road not taken are indeed all the other possibilites in life which do not become reality, because of your cardinal decision.

[dbinkholder]

@MrGabPiano

seems you are referring to quantum physics?

[pogopogopogo3]

Sounds like.. he took the interpretation less traveled by.

[kempff95]

18:32

[HashBrownTKO]

i suspects this is really out of date. Right?

[12rosebud12]

Nice work, Mr.Murphy, but you could have elaborated further, as did xoaxdotnet .

See their "lecture" on the subject which has more merit for treating the poem more profoundly. One walks away richer and the take-home-message of their 6min. lecture runs deeper than what you convey at the end of your general 23min.lecture on Frost. But thanks to you both.

[bluemax79]

@12rosebud12 I don't think stick figures and algebraic notations are necessary for an analysis of a poem. Mr. Murphy took the time to explain a little bit about Frost's life, which any thorough analysis should include. The reference to Frank Lloyd Wright was excellent, as it demonstrated how people have taken this poem out of context. I guess if you are looking for the "Cliff's Notes" explanation of the poem then the 6 min. version would work.

[acetjimmy]

Edifying! Thank you so much.

[Davidfromdalkey]

@acetjimmy you are so fucking rude. how fucking dare you.

[acetjimmy]

@Davidfromdalkey What are you talking about? I liked this lecture.

[SuperDwang]

does anyone not know of the blanche farely lover not taken? if so PLEASE email me a copy of a recording! thanks!

[rosewoodblue]

One road is traveled and taken care of.The other traveled but rough and for this has less wear.

 Comes to a point where he trys to touch his soul.Sould I be who I think that I am right now and take the chance?Or should I place myself in the back seat and go and be apart of it all? Which road is going to take me further towards where I want to go? This really may hurt me but is hurting and being me worth more than being something else or someone else? May once in awhile think what if?

[1emoant]

when he said look at the title it all made sense to me! >.< (:

[Aw5252]

helped me on my project... thanks

[rhenzane]

a big help for my presentation in my class, thanks a lot prof!

[YetAnthony]

That chalkboard is so awesome.

[raycomb30294]

an equal amount of time pondering each road. But knowing himself, the last two lines reveal that in the future, he will be the type of person to travel (think) mostly on the road that he didn't take. That's what he means by "and that has made all the difference". It's a line of self awareness

[raycomb30294]

I'm getting a totally different interpretation of this poem. It strikes me as a poem about regret - or at least living in regret but ultimately of self awareness. The travel appears to be a mental one. The name of the poem is "The road not taken", the focus appears to be on that particular road although in the writing the last two lines focus on the road that was taken. At the time of his decision, there is evidence that the roads had been equally traveled - meaning in truth that he spent...

[japanesesen]

Very interesting!! Well said!!

[globescape]

Interesting analysis! Thanks so much for explanation.

[wazpoke]

Interesting...

[twistedbydsign99]

I think its more complicated than hes making it out to be. I think when hes older (at the time of writing) he knows it was the road less traveled. At the decision point he couldn't tell.

[biggerinjapan]

excellent lecture, thanks for posting this

[larry89]

great lecture...

and everytime i read frost, i see the dark side, as well as the bright.. he was true to his work.. everyone is contradictory and flawed.. some choose to acknowledge that, others choose to make themselves believe that they're perfect

[Ennio444]

I never thought the "difference" was a good difference in this poem. I understood it as a way to say "I chose this, but I wonder what would have happened if I had chosen that". It doesn't make a good difference. As Frost says, it just makes ALL the difference.

[Sophtine]

"Should be understood"? I don't quite agree with that. Ignoring the lines to accommodate your own theories is wrong, but there is way a poem "should be understood".

Other than that, great lecture.

[Sapphire101MFS]

Amazing lecture. Very strong, very interesting dissection of the poem, lots of reading in between the lines, lots of good points, and one that definitely makes you think. Bravo!

[lovinglondonuk]

i think this will help me so much! thanks

[babymeka09]

wow this was awesome....he is a great lecturer..i never thought about the poem in the way that he presented it

[PhillipTG1984]

Swagsloth,

A popular trend in the humanities and social sciences has been a predilication with deconstructing the work of other, often more successful, scholars. He probably tests as most other faculty members, he does not seem to be out of line with the trend in the humanities.

[PurityGuru]

One of the greatest lectures I have ever heard!

[Swagsloth]

im curious on how this guys tests. He seems to want to rip apart and demoralize this poem, and to an extent, American values.  SO if you agree with him you pass the test?

[muffletuffle]

absolutely brilliant!

[webkinzfan1197]

y am i even watching this IM IN THE 6TH GRADE I JUST WANTED TO HERE THE POEM CAUSE I LIKED IT I DIDNT WANT TO HERE THE LIFE STORY OF THE DUDE

[Swagsloth]

hey at least this 6th grader is learning, you are a man, and you cant even spell,...you know the difference between your and you're?

[novatrek]

Shut Up. Who made you the grammar police? God forbid someone makes a common typing error (On the internet). What? you've never misspelled a word or put periods where they don't belong?

Asshole.

[bluebmr6072]

When you grow older you will appreciate watching a lecture like this and knowing that you won't be tested or have to write a paper about it... now I must start my paper on Robert Frost... damn lol

[vraldic]

I have taken several classes with Professor Murphy. I think he is honestly one of the best Professors I have had the privledge of working with, and I have worked with many very good ones. He has complete command of his fields of specialty, and is an excellent teacher. He brings a lot to his classes, and I took a lot away from them.

[henjokongo]

You must have. This is a first rate lecture. Brilliant.

[toxicmissmeghan93]

he may have*

[toxicmissmeghan93]

and, um, i think i think, um um, and um, gahhh someone needs to teach this man public speaking...he may be a wonderful interpritation of the poem but public speaking is not his thing

[theoje143]

Kevin Spacey?

[goldenstrawberries00]

Fantastic!

[smallmaniac]

Nonconformity is, in itself, conformity. The poem also parallels itself in that it is usually interpreted or rationalized in one way, while the other way is passed by or forgotten, an "interpretation not taken".

[NaomiClareNL]

Interesting explanation of the poem. Still, however you interprete it, I think it is one of the best poems around.

[MaximisedInsight]

It's astonishing how many people could overlook so many straightforwardly equivocal lines of the poem and only selectively hone in on certain phrases (e.g. FLW) and press them into their celebratory individualistic expectation. This shows the importance of teaching reading skills and openness to the unexpected in a text...

[Fatali1989]

Interesting points you have there

[kondoak]

Nice. Your point about the title of the poem is particularly strong. Precisely because of the way I previously read this poem (and was taught it at High School), I misremembered the title as "The Road Less Traveled" NOT "The Road Not Taken". I bet that is a very common error; if it is, it supports your point about us wanting to see the the American ideal of non-conformity in the poem.

[CheStillFighting]

i too remembered the title as the road less traveled.

when i talk to people about America's invasion of countries and genocides that are currently being committed, most of them will say that they dont want to know anything about it, they dont care, and as far as they heard on the news, america is bringing peace.

i talk about the US genocide on Vietnam, or Cambodia and they remember it as a peace mission.

what im saying is this interpretation of the poem is brilliant. People rationalize.

[eagerbeaver53]

vietnam wasbecause they were communist and they thought all commies were bad so yeah they wasnt a true reason but i wouldnt call it a genocide

[MonkeyTazer]

you sound like a rambling idiot

[eagerbeaver53]

yep kinda

[camdockk]

Mr. Murphy you have not done justice to this poem. You have offered a very subjective opinion. You have given no consideration to Robert Frost being a philosophical Dualist. He broke with the tradition of Whitman and others in his dualism. In 1916 the road most taken in academics was leaning to liberal socialism which was growing out of a monistic philosophy namely in Europe.

[NaturalLogorithm]

I disagree, the final stanza clearly reveals a frightening reality of life.

[camdockk]

rost The Poet As Philosopher.