A Worn Path Vs The Road Not Taken Essay
ENG125 Introduction to Literature Final Paper
I received 24.09 points out of 25.00 points total.
Life is full of choices we make that lead us down roads called journeys. Journey’s shape our life and our perception of our life and other’s lives. Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty both share the same theme, which is a journey. Each indicate that life is a journey, and the outcomes of the journey are based on the choices we have made in life. In one literary work, we have the right of choice while in the other literary work the lack of choice. While the theme of each of these literary works is similar, the comparison will identify the differences in the symbolism in the journey with relation to the …show more content…
content, style, and form, which are different in many ways, however, both are still about the journey of life.
Content
In the story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, the content is developed through detailed descriptions that allow our imagination to picture the main character and her surroundings. The setting of the story is a cold December morning on a far off path in a pinewood forest. The main character is a Negro woman named Phoenix, who is a very old and small woman wearing a long dress and an apron made of sugar sacks, her head tied with a red rag. “Her race, her gender, her age, her oddity, her frailty; her poverty, her illiteracy all work against her in the segregated patriarchal world of the old deep South, yet she manages alone repeatedly to travel a path fraught with obstacles. Some, like the thorny bush that threatens to tear her best going-to-town dress, the hill that pulls her back like a ball and chain, the stream that prompts her precarious balancing act (and perhaps her first indication of encroaching senility) are natural in origin, organically connected to the rural landscape that comprises the scope of her journey from far deep in the woods into the small town of Natchez” (Owen, 2001). Phoenix is carrying a cane and umbrella, the cane she uses to stead her step as she moved from side to side like a pendulum in an old grandfather clock, and the umbrella to protect her from weather she may encounter on her cold journey. The cane symbolizes her wiliness to fight should anything come her way. In “A Worn Path” the woods are described vividly so the reader understand what Phoenix was experiencing as she was traveling through them.
In the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the content is developed differently due to it being a poem rather than a short story. A short story has a plot while a poem does not. Frost describes two roads that diverged in a yellow wood, and a choice must be made to continue on the journey. The poem is told from the first-person point of view which allows the reader to feel as if the poem relates to them. Frost uses the phrase “In leaves no step had trodden black” (cited in Clugston, 2010) symbolizing a path in life that no one else has followed. Frost symbolizes the difficulty of making a choice in the phrase “I shall be telling this with a sigh” (cited in Clugston, 2010). Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” jokingly about his friendship with Edward Thomas who he met in London. The history behind the poem is quite complex. Frost and Edward had a close friendship and planned to live side by side together in America. Thomas was also a writer; and a man plagued by indecision. In late November of 1914, Frost and Thomas took a stroll in the woods behind Frost’s cottage. A local gamekeeper challenged their presence in the woods and told
them to get out. Frost believed that as a resident he was entitled to walk where he wanted and let the gamekeeper know this. This didn’t impress the gamekeeper and sharp words were exchanged between the men. The gamekeeper called Frost “a damned cottager” and pointed his gun at Frost and Thomas. Frost wanted to hit the gamekeeper, but Thomas backed off so he hesitated. More harsh words were exchanged before the two parties parted ways. As Thomas and Frost continued walking, Thomas remarked how unacceptable the keeper’s aggression was and that something needed to be done. This only fueled Frost’s anger even more against the gamekeeper. Frost believing that Thomas was now ready to confront the gamekeeper tracked the man back down at a small cottage at the end of a coppice. Frost beat on the door warning the gamekeeper what would happen in he threatened or barred him access again. As Frost and Thomas were preparing to leave, the gamekeeper recovered his wits, reached for his shotgun and came outside. He headed straight for Thomas, who was not originally his primary target, raised his gun, and instinctively Thomas backed off once more. Once again, the gamekeeper forced Frost and Thomas off his property and back on to the path. Frost was content with the fight he put up against the gamekeeper. On the other hand, Thomas wished his character had not been tested in front of Frost. He had failed to stand his ground not once but twice in front of Frost, and thought of himself as cowardly. He felt Frost felt the same. This encounter haunted Thomas the rest of his life. Six months after the encounter with the gamekeeper in the woods, Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” was published. ”Noble, charismatic, wise: in the years since its composition, "The Road Not Taken" has been understood by some as an emblem of individual choice and self-reliance, a moral tale in which the traveller takes responsibility for - and so effects - his own destiny. But it was never intended to be read in this way by Frost, who was well aware of the playful ironies contained within it, and would warn audiences: "You have to be careful of that one; it 's a tricky poem - very tricky” (Matthew, 2011). Frost’s intentions of the poem were, “But the poem carried a more personal message. Many were the walks when Thomas would guide Frost on the promise of rare wild flowers or birds ' eggs, only to end in self-reproach when the path he chose revealed no such wonders. Amused at Thomas 's inability to satisfy himself, Frost chided him, "No matter which road you take, you 'll always sigh, and wish you 'd taken another” (Matthew, 2011). Thomas did not find the poem amusing at all. In fact, it reminded him of his cowardly behavior that day in the woods and poked at his confidence. In comparing the two literary works for similarities, they both share a road or path as their primary focus and take place outdoors in the woods. Also, they both have a deeper meaning to them. Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” was based on his friend Thomas’ indecisive nature whereas Welty’s “A Worn Path” is based on African-American poverty. The difference is the journey is known immediately to the reader in “The Road Not Taken” while in “A Worn Path” the journey is still taking form. In “A Worn Path”, Phoenix travels through the woods and encounters difficulties and other characters along the way where in “A Road Not Taken” a choice just needs to be made by the reader.
Form
“The Road Not Taken” is told from the first-person point of view. This allows the reader to put themselves inside the characters shoes. You can clearly see the woods and path laid out before you, the path grassy wanting wear. “Frost composed this poem in four five-line stanzas with only two end rhymes in each stanza (abaab). The flexible iambic meter has four strong beats to the line. Of the technical achievements in “The Road Not Taken,” one in particular shows Frost’s skill at enforcing meaning through form. The poem ends: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference” (Ellis, 2006). Frost uses the iambic tetrameter to give the poem a slower pace and rhythm. This can represent a slow walk in the woods. In each stanza the reader can imagine hearing footsteps along the path. “A Worn Path” is told from the limited omniscient third person point of view. Limited omniscient point of view allows the reader to know the thoughts and feelings of only one of the characters in the story. In “A Worn Path” this allows the reader to sympathize with Phoenix because her thoughts and feelings are shown while they read about the hardships she endures. Welty provides vivid imagery in “A Worn Path” so the reader is able to understand the character Phoenix better. Throughout Phoenix’s journey, she talks to animals to say out of her way and from under her feet. She stops to take a break on her walk and visualizes a boy giving her a piece of cake then snaps back into reality with her hand in the air reaching out to receive cake that is not there. “The characters Phoenix encounters on this pilgrimage all represent attitudes of whites in the South after the war. Her first encounter is with a hunter who, after running off a black dog, remarks, "Well, I scared him off that time" (146). Welty uses the symbol of the white hunter scaring off the black dog to show the strength of Phoenix 's dignity: " 'Doesn 't the gun scare you? ' he said, pointing it at her. `No, Sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day '" (146). The hunter 's attempt to instill fear in Phoenix, a fear she disposed of years ago as she came to terms with her plight in society, fails. The hunter 's parting advice for Phoenix comes in the form of a threat: "But you take my advice and stay home, and nothing will happen to you" (146). Phoenix realizes that the importance of the trip far exceeds the possible harm that can be done to her brittle frame. The incident with the hunter symbolizes the resiliency of the black movement toward equality” (Sykes, 1998). Her sanity is questioned several times throughout the story. The most questionable instance is when she gets to the hospital and the nurse asks Phoenix how her grandson is doing, Phoenix is speechless and realizes she has forgotten why she has made the long journey. Welty wants the reader to see the depth of the journey she has taken, not just this journey, but her journey in life. The theme of journey shows the lengths she would go for her grandson no matter her age or how long the journey may be. The differences in the literary works are that the short story does have a plot while the poem does not. A similarity is that both literary works use symbolism and imagery to allow the reader to picture the setting and theme.
Style
In “A Worn Path”, the style used is symbolism and imagery to allow the reader to create a vivid picture about the character and setting of the story. The main symbol would be the character Phoenix. “The name "Phoenix" evokes images of the mythical bird which rises from the flames and regenerates. Welty develops this association, figuring the recovery of Phoenix 's memory as "a flicker" and "a flame" of "comprehension" (148). Birds feature prominently in the story; some symbolize the fragility of Phoenix and her grandson and others are more sinister and seem to presage death. In the opening paragraph, the narrative voice describes Phoenix as a "solitary little bird" (Lister, 2007). The symbol of a Phoenix helps enhance the theme of the journey due to the many obstacles and hardships that the character faces on her way. The phoenix symbolizes a sense of hope in the bleak conditions of the story. In “The Road Not Taken” the Frost uses his signature style of leaving the meaning of his poems to his readers. “He guides us in the right direction with hints and suggestions, but in the end, he uses a lot of words and phrases that probably mean one thing – but could very well mean something completely different. This makes Frost poems fun to read, because the reader gets to brainstorm lots of possible meanings, and then choose what the poem means to them” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Frost also uses “The poem consists of four stanzas with five lines each. These are called quintains. And in each quintain, the rhyme scheme is ABAAB” (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). By using this style, Frost creates a unique rhythm to the poem that helps build the theme of the poem. It allows the reader to keep in pace as if in a walk that allows the reader to make a choice instead of a solemn pace that makes the reader feel as if the choice is a daunting one. Frost references the autumn season in his poem. Autumn is a season of change. “The poem shows considerable ambivalence about which is road is less traveled – one moment, one is more grassy, the next, they 're both equally covered with fresh leaves. It seems that, on this autumn morning, neither road looked worn, regardless of what the speaker may say when he tells the story years from now” (Shmoop Editorial Team). A difference between the literary works is that the “A Worn Path” uses the short story format for plot development bringing the theme to life while “The Road Not Taken” uses the poetic form. The similarities between the two is that each author uses symbolism to allow the reader to use their imagination fully to put themselves into the story.
Conclusion
Both “The Road Not Taken” and “A Worn Path” share the common theme of a journey. The journey is symbolic in each story. In “A Worn Path” the character Phoenix Jackson is an old woman who embarks on a long journey of love through many obstacles to obtain medicine for her beloved sick grandson. In “The Road Not Taken” the journey is about a character who is faced with a difficult decision in life and must choose what path to take. The two stories were compared for their content, style, and form which showed their similarities and differences.
References
Clugston, R.W. (2010). Journey into literature. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu
Ellis, R. P. (2006). The Road Not Taken. Magill’S Survey Of American Literature, Revised Edition, 1-2.
Lister, R. (2007). Literary Contexts in Short Stories: Eudora Welty 's "A Worn Path". Literary Contexts In Short Stories Collections: Eudora Welty 's 'A Worn Path ', 1.
MATTHEW, H. (2011, July 30). The Guardian: Review: A citizen of eternity: At the time Edward Thomas and Robert Frost met in London in 1913, neither had yet made his name as a poet. They became close, and each was vital to the other 's success. But then Frost wrote 'The Road Not Taken ', which was to. Guardian, The (London, England).
Owen, J. (2001). Phoenix jackson, william wallace, and king MacLain: Welty 's mythic travelers. Southern Literary Journal, 34(1), 29-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216410521?accountid=32521
Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).Robert Frost’s Calling Card: The Road Not Taken. Retrieved August 2, 2013, from http://www.shmoop.com/road-not-taken/calling-card.html
Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).The Road Not Taken Title. Retrieved August 2, 2013, from http://www.shmoop.com/road-not-taken/title.html
Sykes, D. J. (1998). Welty 's The Worn Path. Explicator, 56(3), 151.
I received 24.09 points out of 25.00 points total.
Life is full of choices we make that lead us down roads called journeys. Journey’s shape our life and our perception of our life and other’s lives. Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty both share the same theme, which is a journey. Each indicate that life is a journey, and the outcomes of the journey are based on the choices we have made in life. In one literary work, we have the right of choice while in the other literary work the lack of choice. While the theme of each of these literary works is similar, the comparison will identify the differences in the symbolism in the journey with relation to the …show more content…
content, style, and form, which are different in many ways, however, both are still about the journey of life.
Content
In the story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, the content is developed through detailed descriptions that allow our imagination to picture the main character and her surroundings. The setting of the story is a cold December morning on a far off path in a pinewood forest. The main character is a Negro woman named Phoenix, who is a very old and small woman wearing a long dress and an apron made of sugar sacks, her head tied with a red rag. “Her race, her gender, her age, her oddity, her frailty; her poverty, her illiteracy all work against her in the segregated patriarchal world of the old deep South, yet she manages alone repeatedly to travel a path fraught with obstacles. Some, like the thorny bush that threatens to tear her best going-to-town dress, the hill that pulls her back like a ball and chain, the stream that prompts her precarious balancing act (and perhaps her first indication of encroaching senility) are natural in origin, organically connected to the rural landscape that comprises the scope of her journey from far deep in the woods into the small town of Natchez” (Owen, 2001). Phoenix is carrying a cane and umbrella, the cane she uses to stead her step as she moved from side to side like a pendulum in an old grandfather clock, and the umbrella to protect her from weather she may encounter on her cold journey. The cane symbolizes her wiliness to fight should anything come her way. In “A Worn Path” the woods are described vividly so the reader understand what Phoenix was experiencing as she was traveling through them.
In the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the content is developed differently due to it being a poem rather than a short story. A short story has a plot while a poem does not. Frost describes two roads that diverged in a yellow wood, and a choice must be made to continue on the journey. The poem is told from the first-person point of view which allows the reader to feel as if the poem relates to them. Frost uses the phrase “In leaves no step had trodden black” (cited in Clugston, 2010) symbolizing a path in life that no one else has followed. Frost symbolizes the difficulty of making a choice in the phrase “I shall be telling this with a sigh” (cited in Clugston, 2010). Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” jokingly about his friendship with Edward Thomas who he met in London. The history behind the poem is quite complex. Frost and Edward had a close friendship and planned to live side by side together in America. Thomas was also a writer; and a man plagued by indecision. In late November of 1914, Frost and Thomas took a stroll in the woods behind Frost’s cottage. A local gamekeeper challenged their presence in the woods and told
them to get out. Frost believed that as a resident he was entitled to walk where he wanted and let the gamekeeper know this. This didn’t impress the gamekeeper and sharp words were exchanged between the men. The gamekeeper called Frost “a damned cottager” and pointed his gun at Frost and Thomas. Frost wanted to hit the gamekeeper, but Thomas backed off so he hesitated. More harsh words were exchanged before the two parties parted ways. As Thomas and Frost continued walking, Thomas remarked how unacceptable the keeper’s aggression was and that something needed to be done. This only fueled Frost’s anger even more against the gamekeeper. Frost believing that Thomas was now ready to confront the gamekeeper tracked the man back down at a small cottage at the end of a coppice. Frost beat on the door warning the gamekeeper what would happen in he threatened or barred him access again. As Frost and Thomas were preparing to leave, the gamekeeper recovered his wits, reached for his shotgun and came outside. He headed straight for Thomas, who was not originally his primary target, raised his gun, and instinctively Thomas backed off once more. Once again, the gamekeeper forced Frost and Thomas off his property and back on to the path. Frost was content with the fight he put up against the gamekeeper. On the other hand, Thomas wished his character had not been tested in front of Frost. He had failed to stand his ground not once but twice in front of Frost, and thought of himself as cowardly. He felt Frost felt the same. This encounter haunted Thomas the rest of his life. Six months after the encounter with the gamekeeper in the woods, Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” was published. ”Noble, charismatic, wise: in the years since its composition, "The Road Not Taken" has been understood by some as an emblem of individual choice and self-reliance, a moral tale in which the traveller takes responsibility for - and so effects - his own destiny. But it was never intended to be read in this way by Frost, who was well aware of the playful ironies contained within it, and would warn audiences: "You have to be careful of that one; it 's a tricky poem - very tricky” (Matthew, 2011). Frost’s intentions of the poem were, “But the poem carried a more personal message. Many were the walks when Thomas would guide Frost on the promise of rare wild flowers or birds ' eggs, only to end in self-reproach when the path he chose revealed no such wonders. Amused at Thomas 's inability to satisfy himself, Frost chided him, "No matter which road you take, you 'll always sigh, and wish you 'd taken another” (Matthew, 2011). Thomas did not find the poem amusing at all. In fact, it reminded him of his cowardly behavior that day in the woods and poked at his confidence. In comparing the two literary works for similarities, they both share a road or path as their primary focus and take place outdoors in the woods. Also, they both have a deeper meaning to them. Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” was based on his friend Thomas’ indecisive nature whereas Welty’s “A Worn Path” is based on African-American poverty. The difference is the journey is known immediately to the reader in “The Road Not Taken” while in “A Worn Path” the journey is still taking form. In “A Worn Path”, Phoenix travels through the woods and encounters difficulties and other characters along the way where in “A Road Not Taken” a choice just needs to be made by the reader.
Form
“The Road Not Taken” is told from the first-person point of view. This allows the reader to put themselves inside the characters shoes. You can clearly see the woods and path laid out before you, the path grassy wanting wear. “Frost composed this poem in four five-line stanzas with only two end rhymes in each stanza (abaab). The flexible iambic meter has four strong beats to the line. Of the technical achievements in “The Road Not Taken,” one in particular shows Frost’s skill at enforcing meaning through form. The poem ends: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference” (Ellis, 2006). Frost uses the iambic tetrameter to give the poem a slower pace and rhythm. This can represent a slow walk in the woods. In each stanza the reader can imagine hearing footsteps along the path. “A Worn Path” is told from the limited omniscient third person point of view. Limited omniscient point of view allows the reader to know the thoughts and feelings of only one of the characters in the story. In “A Worn Path” this allows the reader to sympathize with Phoenix because her thoughts and feelings are shown while they read about the hardships she endures. Welty provides vivid imagery in “A Worn Path” so the reader is able to understand the character Phoenix better. Throughout Phoenix’s journey, she talks to animals to say out of her way and from under her feet. She stops to take a break on her walk and visualizes a boy giving her a piece of cake then snaps back into reality with her hand in the air reaching out to receive cake that is not there. “The characters Phoenix encounters on this pilgrimage all represent attitudes of whites in the South after the war. Her first encounter is with a hunter who, after running off a black dog, remarks, "Well, I scared him off that time" (146). Welty uses the symbol of the white hunter scaring off the black dog to show the strength of Phoenix 's dignity: " 'Doesn 't the gun scare you? ' he said, pointing it at her. `No, Sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day '" (146). The hunter 's attempt to instill fear in Phoenix, a fear she disposed of years ago as she came to terms with her plight in society, fails. The hunter 's parting advice for Phoenix comes in the form of a threat: "But you take my advice and stay home, and nothing will happen to you" (146). Phoenix realizes that the importance of the trip far exceeds the possible harm that can be done to her brittle frame. The incident with the hunter symbolizes the resiliency of the black movement toward equality” (Sykes, 1998). Her sanity is questioned several times throughout the story. The most questionable instance is when she gets to the hospital and the nurse asks Phoenix how her grandson is doing, Phoenix is speechless and realizes she has forgotten why she has made the long journey. Welty wants the reader to see the depth of the journey she has taken, not just this journey, but her journey in life. The theme of journey shows the lengths she would go for her grandson no matter her age or how long the journey may be. The differences in the literary works are that the short story does have a plot while the poem does not. A similarity is that both literary works use symbolism and imagery to allow the reader to picture the setting and theme.
Style
In “A Worn Path”, the style used is symbolism and imagery to allow the reader to create a vivid picture about the character and setting of the story. The main symbol would be the character Phoenix. “The name "Phoenix" evokes images of the mythical bird which rises from the flames and regenerates. Welty develops this association, figuring the recovery of Phoenix 's memory as "a flicker" and "a flame" of "comprehension" (148). Birds feature prominently in the story; some symbolize the fragility of Phoenix and her grandson and others are more sinister and seem to presage death. In the opening paragraph, the narrative voice describes Phoenix as a "solitary little bird" (Lister, 2007). The symbol of a Phoenix helps enhance the theme of the journey due to the many obstacles and hardships that the character faces on her way. The phoenix symbolizes a sense of hope in the bleak conditions of the story. In “The Road Not Taken” the Frost uses his signature style of leaving the meaning of his poems to his readers. “He guides us in the right direction with hints and suggestions, but in the end, he uses a lot of words and phrases that probably mean one thing – but could very well mean something completely different. This makes Frost poems fun to read, because the reader gets to brainstorm lots of possible meanings, and then choose what the poem means to them” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Frost also uses “The poem consists of four stanzas with five lines each. These are called quintains. And in each quintain, the rhyme scheme is ABAAB” (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). By using this style, Frost creates a unique rhythm to the poem that helps build the theme of the poem. It allows the reader to keep in pace as if in a walk that allows the reader to make a choice instead of a solemn pace that makes the reader feel as if the choice is a daunting one. Frost references the autumn season in his poem. Autumn is a season of change. “The poem shows considerable ambivalence about which is road is less traveled – one moment, one is more grassy, the next, they 're both equally covered with fresh leaves. It seems that, on this autumn morning, neither road looked worn, regardless of what the speaker may say when he tells the story years from now” (Shmoop Editorial Team). A difference between the literary works is that the “A Worn Path” uses the short story format for plot development bringing the theme to life while “The Road Not Taken” uses the poetic form. The similarities between the two is that each author uses symbolism to allow the reader to use their imagination fully to put themselves into the story.
Conclusion
Both “The Road Not Taken” and “A Worn Path” share the common theme of a journey. The journey is symbolic in each story. In “A Worn Path” the character Phoenix Jackson is an old woman who embarks on a long journey of love through many obstacles to obtain medicine for her beloved sick grandson. In “The Road Not Taken” the journey is about a character who is faced with a difficult decision in life and must choose what path to take. The two stories were compared for their content, style, and form which showed their similarities and differences.
References
Clugston, R.W. (2010). Journey into literature. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu
Ellis, R. P. (2006). The Road Not Taken. Magill’S Survey Of American Literature, Revised Edition, 1-2.
Lister, R. (2007). Literary Contexts in Short Stories: Eudora Welty 's "A Worn Path". Literary Contexts In Short Stories Collections: Eudora Welty 's 'A Worn Path ', 1.
MATTHEW, H. (2011, July 30). The Guardian: Review: A citizen of eternity: At the time Edward Thomas and Robert Frost met in London in 1913, neither had yet made his name as a poet. They became close, and each was vital to the other 's success. But then Frost wrote 'The Road Not Taken ', which was to. Guardian, The (London, England).
Owen, J. (2001). Phoenix jackson, william wallace, and king MacLain: Welty 's mythic travelers. Southern Literary Journal, 34(1), 29-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216410521?accountid=32521
Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).Robert Frost’s Calling Card: The Road Not Taken. Retrieved August 2, 2013, from http://www.shmoop.com/road-not-taken/calling-card.html
Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).The Road Not Taken Title. Retrieved August 2, 2013, from http://www.shmoop.com/road-not-taken/title.html
Sykes, D. J. (1998). Welty 's The Worn Path. Explicator, 56(3), 151.