ENG 125 Final Paper Symbolism in Literature
Frost and Rhys: Symbolism in Literature
ENG125: Introduction to Literature
Instructor: Jonathan Wilson
October 28, 2013
Frost and Rhys: Symbolism in Literature “Our journey had advanced—our feet were almost come to that odd Fork in Being’s road—Eternity—by Term”, (Dickinson, 1890). Life is a journey. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” (1916), a man comes up to a fork in the road, and he must make a choice as to which direction to take. In Jean Rhys’ short story “Used to Live Here Once” (1976), a woman is walking down a road remembering things along the road that were different the last time she saw them. The road itself is a symbol of life’s journey. Both Frost’s poem and Rhys’ short story are very good pieces of literature and are similar to one another. Taking a closer look and breaking down both the poem and short story will show the symbolism of the journey, the journey which is called life. The mood of a piece of literature sets the stage for emotions. Clugston states that “tone is the mood or attitude reflected in a literary work”, and that “every writer develops a mood or tone designed to fire up feelings”, (Clugston, 2010). The tone allows the reader to feel happy, excited, questioning, determined, stressful, or many other emotions. The tone in “The Road not Taken” is that of a slow paced man, casual, comfortable, and calm. The man seems to not be in a hurry at all, which re-emphasizes the tone, where it states “long I stood, and looked down one as far as I could. To where it bent in the undergrowth”, (Clugston, 2010). This man stands at the fork of the road for a long time and examines each of the roads. He cannot see the end of each road because the road extends further than his vision will allow, “to where it bent in the undergrowth”, (Clugston, 2010). Venturing on in the poem, the traveler seems to not be worried that the roads are pretty much the same. Both of the roads we equally worn, and
ENG125: Introduction to Literature
Instructor: Jonathan Wilson
October 28, 2013
Frost and Rhys: Symbolism in Literature “Our journey had advanced—our feet were almost come to that odd Fork in Being’s road—Eternity—by Term”, (Dickinson, 1890). Life is a journey. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” (1916), a man comes up to a fork in the road, and he must make a choice as to which direction to take. In Jean Rhys’ short story “Used to Live Here Once” (1976), a woman is walking down a road remembering things along the road that were different the last time she saw them. The road itself is a symbol of life’s journey. Both Frost’s poem and Rhys’ short story are very good pieces of literature and are similar to one another. Taking a closer look and breaking down both the poem and short story will show the symbolism of the journey, the journey which is called life. The mood of a piece of literature sets the stage for emotions. Clugston states that “tone is the mood or attitude reflected in a literary work”, and that “every writer develops a mood or tone designed to fire up feelings”, (Clugston, 2010). The tone allows the reader to feel happy, excited, questioning, determined, stressful, or many other emotions. The tone in “The Road not Taken” is that of a slow paced man, casual, comfortable, and calm. The man seems to not be in a hurry at all, which re-emphasizes the tone, where it states “long I stood, and looked down one as far as I could. To where it bent in the undergrowth”, (Clugston, 2010). This man stands at the fork of the road for a long time and examines each of the roads. He cannot see the end of each road because the road extends further than his vision will allow, “to where it bent in the undergrowth”, (Clugston, 2010). Venturing on in the poem, the traveler seems to not be worried that the roads are pretty much the same. Both of the roads we equally worn, and
References: A.B. (1993). Symbolism. New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry & Poetics, 1256-1259. Bain, T. (2010). Theme is what unifies your story. Writer (Kalmbach Publishing Co.), 123(3), 21-55. Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California; Bridgeport Education, Inc. Dickinson, E. (1980). Time and Eternity: XXII. The Journey. Poems By Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete, 97. Dickstein, M. (2010). Career, life, and influence: on Robert Frost. Critical insights: Robert Frost, 3-11. Dr. L. (2013). Symbolism in literature. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/6472314/Symbolism-in-Literature Grecinger, M. (2012). “I used to live here once” by Jean Rhys: A theme analyzation. Retrieved from http://bryteyedgemini.hubpages.com/hub/SHORTSTORYELEMENTS setting. (1995). Merriam-Webster 's Encyclopedia of Literature, N.PAG. Lorcher, T. (2010). Robert Frost Poems: An analysis of “The Road Not Taken”. Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com