I was out walking with a friend and her dogs the other day and I took this lovely photograph. The woods and the photograph reminded me of a poem by Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken. I have to admit I never enjoyed interpretation at school. I could never "get" the hidden meanings. I just liked to read the book or poem without having to think about what the author/poet was trying to say! I thought I would look up the Spark notes for this poem and I am not sure whether to be happy or disapointed that I understood the deeper meaning (accornding to the notes that is).
My understanding is that life presents us with different paths and we will convince ourselves that the road we take is the right path. We know we will never take the other route and years later we will defend that path with the thought it was less travelled when in reality they were both the same. However, the outcome may have been different .
Our conscious mind makes decisions based on protecting our subconscious mind. Emotions and passed experiences help us make these decisions. They are stored in our subconscious until we replace it with another thought. So when you come to those paths in the wood how will you defend your decision? Enjoy the poem and if you have any thoughts please get in touch. If you understand the poem in a different way let me know. Who is to say Spark notes or myself is right. Christine
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.
My understanding is that life presents us with different paths and we will convince ourselves that the road we take is the right path. We know we will never take the other route and years later we will defend that path with the thought it was less travelled when in reality they were both the same. However, the outcome may have been different .
Our conscious mind makes decisions based on protecting our subconscious mind. Emotions and passed experiences help us make these decisions. They are stored in our subconscious until we replace it with another thought. So when you come to those paths in the wood how will you defend your decision? Enjoy the poem and if you have any thoughts please get in touch. If you understand the poem in a different way let me know. Who is to say Spark notes or myself is right. Christine
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.
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