An Stylistics analysis on the Poem the Road Not Taken by Robert
Frost
英语文体学结课论文
摘要
罗伯特·弗罗斯特是一名美国著名诗人，本诗《未选择的路》是他的一篇名作，诗中以作者面对森林中两条道路时的思想活动展开描写，引出了深刻的哲理——面对人生的选择要慎重考虑，且无法回头。本诗语言朴实，全文通俗易懂，且采用传统的诗歌文体，读来朗朗上口，但意味深长。本文从诗歌的文体，作者，以及思想三个方面对此诗做了简略分析。
关键词: 道路， 选择， 通俗， 文体
Abstract
The Road Not Taken is a famous poem written by the notable American poet Robert Frost. This poem is started from the psychological activity of the writer when he was facing the two roads in the forest, and then lead to a profound philosophy——people must keep cautious when facing choices, and could never come back. The language is and traditional and easy to understand. This paper makes a brief analysis on this poem from three aspects: literary form, writer, and clou.
Key words: roads, choice, easy to understand, literary form
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken has 4 stanzas with 5 lines in each, while the form is the traditional 4 iambic feet. The rhyme scheme is abaab, which are wood, both, could, undergrowth; fair, claim, wear, there, same; lay, black, day, way, back; sigh, hence, I, by, difference. This lively rhythm gives reader the sense of following.
This poem is from the world-famous poet, Robert Frost, who was born in San
Franciso and got his whole-American glory in the 1990s. Frost was one of the most popular poets in America during his lifetime and was frequently called the country's unofficial poet laureate. He was farming in Derry, New Hampshire when, at the age of 38, he sold the farm, uprooted his family and moved to England, where he devoted himself to his poetry. There are 10 volumes of poems published by Frost in his whole life. This poem is belong to his third volume Moutain Interval(1916), and also one of my favorite poem. “Frost had rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, choosing instead the old-fashioned way to be new.”(History and Anthology of American Literature: 167) He prefers to use the traditional forms of lyric and narrative, and the simple words to express a new and profound philosophy. As a poet of nature he had obvious affinities with romantic writers. He saw nature as a storehouse of analogy and symbol, but he had little faith in religious dogma or speculative thought. His concern with nature reflected deep moral uncertainties, and his poetry, for all its apparent simplicity, often probes mysteries of darkness and irrationality in the bleak and chaotic landscapes of an indifferent universe where men stand alone, unaided and perplexed. In Frost’s poetry, there are various metaphorical objects, such as natural scenery, phenomenon, animals and flowers in nature, others are closely associated with life, farm tools, food, women’s beauty, human body, religion and mythology, etc.. All these reflect the poet’s love for nature and life, his sad experience in life and the influence religion exerted upon western people’s daily life.
This poem is a typical example. In this poem, Frost reviewed his trouble in his life, which is two different ways of life. Once he was facing two different roads, one is fair while the another one is grassy. He stood and thought for a long time. “And sorry I could not travel both, and be one traveler; long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.” He was confused which one to take. Because the curiosity leads him to look forward both, and he thought he could take one first then another one later. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” But finally, the fact led a deep philosophy, which made him feel remorse for his original choice. “I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.”
In conclusion, this poem announced itself to be
References
[1]吴伟仁, 美国文学史及选读第二册[M], 外语教学与研究出版社，1990
[2] William H. Pritchard,
Urbana-Champaign Department of English.
[3] http://www.douban.com/group/topic/1086394/
[4]
[5]郭久英, 文慧, 英语诗歌文体学分析法之研究[J], 中北大学学报，2007, Vol, 23,
No. 3
An Stylistics analysis on the Poem the Road Not Taken by Robert
Frost
英语文体学结课论文
摘要
罗伯特·弗罗斯特是一名美国著名诗人，本诗《未选择的路》是他的一篇名作，诗中以作者面对森林中两条道路时的思想活动展开描写，引出了深刻的哲理——面对人生的选择要慎重考虑，且无法回头。本诗语言朴实，全文通俗易懂，且采用传统的诗歌文体，读来朗朗上口，但意味深长。本文从诗歌的文体，作者，以及思想三个方面对此诗做了简略分析。
关键词: 道路， 选择， 通俗， 文体
Abstract
The Road Not Taken is a famous poem written by the notable American poet Robert Frost. This poem is started from the psychological activity of the writer when he was facing the two roads in the forest, and then lead to a profound philosophy——people must keep cautious when facing choices, and could never come back. The language is and traditional and easy to understand. This paper makes a brief analysis on this poem from three aspects: literary form, writer, and clou.
Key words: roads, choice, easy to understand, literary form
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken has 4 stanzas with 5 lines in each, while the form is the traditional 4 iambic feet. The rhyme scheme is abaab, which are wood, both, could, undergrowth; fair, claim, wear, there, same; lay, black, day, way, back; sigh, hence, I, by, difference. This lively rhythm gives reader the sense of following.
This poem is from the world-famous poet, Robert Frost, who was born in San
Franciso and got his whole-American glory in the 1990s. Frost was one of the most popular poets in America during his lifetime and was frequently called the country's unofficial poet laureate. He was farming in Derry, New Hampshire when, at the age of 38, he sold the farm, uprooted his family and moved to England, where he devoted himself to his poetry. There are 10 volumes of poems published by Frost in his whole life. This poem is belong to his third volume Moutain Interval(1916), and also one of my favorite poem. “Frost had rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, choosing instead the old-fashioned way to be new.”(History and Anthology of American Literature: 167) He prefers to use the traditional forms of lyric and narrative, and the simple words to express a new and profound philosophy. As a poet of nature he had obvious affinities with romantic writers. He saw nature as a storehouse of analogy and symbol, but he had little faith in religious dogma or speculative thought. His concern with nature reflected deep moral uncertainties, and his poetry, for all its apparent simplicity, often probes mysteries of darkness and irrationality in the bleak and chaotic landscapes of an indifferent universe where men stand alone, unaided and perplexed. In Frost’s poetry, there are various metaphorical objects, such as natural scenery, phenomenon, animals and flowers in nature, others are closely associated with life, farm tools, food, women’s beauty, human body, religion and mythology, etc.. All these reflect the poet’s love for nature and life, his sad experience in life and the influence religion exerted upon western people’s daily life.
This poem is a typical example. In this poem, Frost reviewed his trouble in his life, which is two different ways of life. Once he was facing two different roads, one is fair while the another one is grassy. He stood and thought for a long time. “And sorry I could not travel both, and be one traveler; long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.” He was confused which one to take. Because the curiosity leads him to look forward both, and he thought he could take one first then another one later. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” But finally, the fact led a deep philosophy, which made him feel remorse for his original choice. “I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.”
In conclusion, this poem announced itself to be
References
[1]吴伟仁, 美国文学史及选读第二册[M], 外语教学与研究出版社，1990
[2] William H. Pritchard,
Urbana-Champaign Department of English.
[3] http://www.douban.com/group/topic/1086394/
[4]
[5]郭久英, 文慧, 英语诗歌文体学分析法之研究[J], 中北大学学报，2007, Vol, 23,
No. 3