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Differences in Literary Form: Frost vs Rhys

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Differences in Literary Form: Frost vs Rhys
Differences in Literary Form: Frost VS Rhys
Ericka Ansell
Eng125
Lyndsey Lefebvre
03/17/2013

Literature has so many ways to go about truly understanding it. Using your imagination can be the key to feeling more in tune with the words of your readings. Understanding ambiguity, metaphors and the symbols an authors use can make any reading easier to connect with or relate to. When reading the literary works, “The Road Not Taken”, Frost, R(1916) and “I Used to Live Here”, by Rhys, J.(1976), it 's noticed that the two are compare and contrast at the same time. The similarities are there but the differences stand out even more. When reading “The Road Not Taken”, the author makes it very easy to be involved in the poem as if it may be a life experience of the reader. Not just by reading and understanding it but by using your imagination to put you into the situation he has written. Thinking of a time or place where a tough decision has to be made. Do you make that decision and go with it or do you over analyze it and go with the more obvious decision? It can be a hard spot to be in. The proverbial fork in the road. Frost explains how he was faced at a cross road. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood” (Frost, 1916). Using the metaphors given, “Two roads diverged”(Frost, 1916) the reader can put themselves in the place of a dilemma. What do I chose as the right path? Whether you can associate this with a life experience you have already faced or something you have thought about before, this gives you a place in the poem. This uses ambiguity as to describe a situation as such but meaning something so much different and can draw you in to be intrigued by what is to come. Continuing the reading to put yourself there physically by the settings & tone that are described in the writing. Picturing yourself physically standing where the two roads fork off into two separate


References: Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Frost, R (1916). The road not taken. Mountain interval. New York: Holt. Rhys, J. (1976). I used to live here once. Sleep it off, lady. London: Penguin Books. http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/lrc/detail?vid=3&sid=cffa67fc-86b4-40c5- 96c2-38843ef25154%40sessionmgr112&hid=128&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLXBsdXM %3d#db=lkh&AN=103331CSSF13740120000475 . Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition, Literary Reference Center Plus. 2001, Aubrey, Bryan, Rollins, Douglas; Salem Press http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/lrc/detail?vid=10&sid=cffa67fc-86b4-40c5- 96c2-38843ef25154%40sessionmgr112&hid=128&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLXBsdXM %3d#db=lkh&AN=103331MSA10989830000097 Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition; September 2006; Salem Press http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/lrc/detail?vid=10&sid=cffa67fc-86b4-40c5- 96c2-38843ef25154%40sessionmgr112&hid=128&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLXBsdXM %3d#db=lkh&AN=103331MLA200910310300305985 Magill’s Literary Annual 2009; June 2009, Salem Press
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