Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- Kevin Murphy, Professor of English at Ithaca College, examines the discrepancy between Robert Frost's popularity during his lifetime and the darker implications of his poetry, as exemplified by one of his most cherished poems. Filmed in 1992.
As I grow older,I am 71,I find myself looking back at my life with more than a few regrets.Missed chances,lost love and sadness that I didn`t tell more people that I loved them.The correct interpretation has made me realise that had I taken the other path things might have turned out very badly and I should be grateful and more aware of how lucky I have been.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m 32yo and already have many regrets in life, doubting my actions and decisions most of the time, and treating myself like a failure. I wish I can correct my life while I still have time. Have a great day!
Very well said sir, choosing a most optimistic view. Life is all about choices-embrace those choices.
Love is ours to share. Ever notice you can’t hold on to it? Just share love. That’s what makes me happy.
I’m 46 and I am alive with love.
۱۱۱
I've watched several lectures on American poetry from esteemed universities such as Harvard and Yale, and this lecture is, in my opinion, the best one of any kind on poetry anywhere on the internet. Professor Murphy is discussing the virtues of Frost with no pretense, no technological interruptions or interfaces such as--ugh!--PowerPoint, and with total organization and clarity of purpose. he conveys more about poetry in 22 minutes than many professors do in an entire semester. (He actually reads the poem being discussed, which by the way, almost no other online lecturers bother to do before discussing it, which is so very odd to me.)
This is how a lecture should be. Would that it were required viewing for all poetry professors before they ever teach their first class. Well done!
Could not agree more -- and I am so happy I found this. I was lucky to have Professor Murphy for several classes and he was my thesis advisor at Ithaca. This lecture is astounding, and now that I teach this poem to undergraduates I am blown away...
This is perhaps the best lecture on a poem I have come across on CZcams. I regularly come back to it. The lecturer is a true master of his art.
I have taken several classes with Professor Murphy. I think he is honestly one of the best Professors I have had the privledge of working with, and I have worked with many very good ones. He has complete command of his fields of specialty, and is an excellent teacher. He brings a lot to his classes, and I took a lot away from them.
I think this poem was written in this way to make the one reading it analyze their own choices. We all have choices to make and live with. For me, he sounds as if he is deciding if he made the right choice and at the end when he says, "and that has made all the difference", he becomes certain that it was his best choice.
This is amazing. Prof. Murphy has absolutely change the whole course of the poem that i was having about the poem for like last five years. BRILLIANT!
Great poem… great lecture! Over the years, I have watched this many-many times and always loved it. Even if Robert Frost did not intend the darker interpretation, the fact is that it truly captures the reality of life. Thank you Professor Murphy and thank you to whoever posted it online for all of us.
I think this poem is a perfect illustration of the paradox of choice
Awesome
And the non consequence of choice. You will never know the road you hadn't traveled. You must take the turns you chose, the road traveled.
And then he ends with "And that has made all the difference." Note, he says that this is the story he will tell someday. He isn't telling us that story now. He told it honestly. He started to say that one was grassier, but then said, no, not really, they were about the same. He looked down the other a long time before he turned away. But it was a toss up. It didn't matter what road, but later he says, he'll claim it did. The truth is the difference was in him all the time, not in which road.
I watch this video every year and it reveals to me new insights every-time. Thank you for putting this online because to have the privilege to hear this professor is an extraordinary honour in itself. Love the video. Wish I was his student and could hear him live.
Besides the amazing Robert Frost's poetry. The professor did a amazing explanation.
One of the greatest lectures I have ever heard!
This is fabulous! I have finally found someone who agrees with me on the poem. I will be showing this to my high school English class. Thank you.
Thank you Mr.Kevin Murphy for such amazing and thoughtful lecture..Hard and artistic presentation
Amazing lecture. Very strong, very interesting dissection of the poem, lots of reading in between the lines, lots of good points, and one that definitely makes you think. Bravo!
A very thought provoking video. Thank you.
most convincing explanation. fits well with the experiences in the walk of life ..
This is what makes this poem so amazing, a close reading of it shows that it does not say what we want it to say. We want it to say, like Frank Sinatra, "I did it my way." A close reading shows that he regrets the road "not taken," because he looked down it a long time, and names the poem after the one he did not take. And the poem says that both roads were worn "about the same," and that the other appeared "just as fair." So those last lines are a tall tale told by an old man, long after.
About critics:
Robert Frost surely knew, "never argue with critics, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
Agreed. This goose has the audacity to generalise in such a narrow perspective. The poem the audience.
Mark Twain
excellent lecture!
excellent lecture, thanks for posting this
When you grow older you will appreciate watching a lecture like this and knowing that you won't be tested or have to write a paper about it... now I must start my paper on Robert Frost... damn lol
How did you do?
When you’re older it makes you want to write a paper and/or get your doctorate in English with a dissertation on Frost. 😂
It’s about his best friend Edward Thomas who would always question the path they took along their walks in England. So, to some extent this poem is about Frost making fun of his BFF is jest. The sad part is that this is what would provoke Thomas to join the war. And that it would ultimately cause him to leave his wife and three children because he was killed in the war.
he delivered without any stuck in between...
a moment of silence for these of teachers in the world
it has given me major insight for greater understanding
Thanks for these great insights!
Interesting analysis! Thanks so much for explanation.
a very good explanation, professor..!
When you get older you will interpret it differently. Every single thing you do in life is a choice like that and frankly no one knows if you made different choices what your life would have been like. I head Frost say you need to live boldly. In other words don't second guess every move. Just give each choice a little thought and accept and deal with the outcome as best you can. Often times you don't get a redo on your
move. This is what real life is like even if you carefully plan.
absolutely brilliant!
thanks you sir nicely explained.
Brilliant analysis. I've been reading this poem in the last 20 years. Now I'm really LOST ! =)
this professor has great oral skills, i had to say that...and I think his interpretation makes the poem better..show us the human side of a poet, not a fake side trying to say which everybody wants to hear..it's all about decisions in life..and you certainly regret some decisions you made because you are a human being...I don't care about regrets, I care about living every single day...that's it
well detailed, thank you
Wow! What a teacher. Wonderful insights--decision making, how difficult it is. How often we do rationalize and think we've done it right in life.
Robert Esch - he's not saying he did it right, but that it "made all the difference". We read into it that it was the right decision.
The road not taken Randall thompson
Randall Thompson the road not taken
You must have. This is a first rate lecture. Brilliant.
i think this will help me so much! thanks
Useful, most useful, to the point analysis. Mr Murphy, your lecture has the stuff to become a classic. What I'm missing though are some left out "not-so-fun-facts", eg Frost's intention to mock his buddy, Englisch writer Edward Thomas, who, based on his misreading the poem, volunteered as canon fodder in WW 1 and subsequently perished in action.
Such nice and deep explanation. Thank you for this 🙏
Потрясающее видео. Очень интересно и познавательно. Люблю этого автора. Его стихи восхитительны.
The Road Not Taken resonates with me. No matter the intended meaning, it will mean different things for different people - and I think that is perfectly ok. We are meaning-making-machines, I once read. We can make meaning out of almost anything. I choose for this poem to mean something poignant and sad and great, about my life. Love it.
Exactly. Art is a cooperative effort. The artist makes the art and the consumer of said art interprets the meaning. Some may say your interpretation is wrong, maybe even the artist themselves, but the meaning and emotions derived are real. All control has been lost by the artist at that point, and gained by the receiver.
this guy is great
Very interesting!! Well said!!
Thank you very much! :D
Outrageous!
Yes, he certainly was. His readings are very interesting as I recall. I've wondered if Robert Creely was thinking of Henry and Mr. Bones when he wrote "I Know a Man," and if his friend he calls "John" was actually a reference to Berryman. Again, these are things I haven't looked into, just passing thoughts. Thanks for the great discussion. Hey, I've been looking at your videos tonight, and I am impressed. There is a whole lot you and I actually do agree on. :) Rest well, and have a great Monday.
So good.
Brilliant!!!!
Interesting points you have there
This man is the Walter White of literature. Are we lucky for having this great gift that, or is it just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Well done.
Wow, it makes Frost's poetry have deep resonance...which it should...the popular first understanding and then the deeper synecdoche...of a deep thinker.
Wonderful explanation! As a student, this lecture helped me a lot to understand decision making.
Thanks for your great explanation!
This teacher is very engaging.
helped me on my project... thanks
You have it right. When I read “ and I have promises to keep”. It always gives me the creeps.
This helped me understand this poem so much better! Horeay for technology!
The lecture is from 1992 (1916+76). (13:27)
I take the darkness farther: The poem is about the fact that there is no such thing as "choice", "choice" is only an imaginary idea because whatever we choose, only one thing happens...no different than if we dont take the time to imagine the scenario that we call "a choice"...
He may be referring indirectly to "determinism", the idea that because everything follows cause and effect, logically everything that happens, on all levels, has been predetermined by all previous events, sort of like the domino effect...which would mean choice is an illusion.
All his poems are heavy, he was talking about the idea of breaking on through to the other side.
One of the vivid poems I ever read...
Homar Shrestha come and take a look at my version and tell me if you like it! :)
Good lesson
"concomitant" : "naturally accompanying or associated."
Learned a new word today...
Thank you! I got an A on my analysis report!
+p0613v Great grade for somebody else's research and thoughts !
+1401JSC thank you. the road not taken is really difficult to decipher whether to understood the road not taken and the road "not taken" is really difficult to understood what Robert Frost was trying to tell us. more towards American against European understanding . although simplicity is his styles. I am still overwhelmed by his style of poetry. but I do appreciate your opinion
+p0613v dark parable is his style and I could not fathom it. but it is still one of the best poems I picked with all due respect.
can i see your analysis report
please!!!!!!!!!
excellent lecture it provide deepness into the socio demographical nature of the times
My interpretation is that given that both road are equally taken and thus, what Frost means to say that is that the different comes from taking the road less traveled by - the path that he hasn't taken the last time. Consider that he mentioned he would keep the other road for another day. And that other day is now, when he is taking the road not traveled
No, he said he would save that path for another day, knowing that it would never happen.
@@dumptruckintruthduke frost stated in an interview very clearly that the idea of his work as a suicide poem was awful and untrue
@@freedomisbrightestindungeons I never said anything about suicide dipshit
David, what do you think of John Berryman's poetry?
My kid loves it 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
Who is the lecturer? An outstanding insight in Robert Frost's life and work
@MrGabPiano
seems you are referring to quantum physics?
Well said.
The poem is 100 years old this year (2016). And here's a Zen thought to dwell on: since all roads lead to Rome, would it matter anyway that the road not taken wasn't taken?
I guess that would depend on the starting point and the direction of the traveler. Leaving Rome, all roads lead somewhere else - to some degree.
Life for me has many different roads to travel. Each road leads you to a different destination. You just need to keep trying to find the road you want to travel that leads you to your desired destination. If you don’t try it you will never know which road you want to go.
If you ask someone when speaking about a questionable decision they've made in the past, "do you have any regrets?", very rarely will they answer in the affirmative. It's something ingrained in our nature. The Monty Hall paradox, whereby people almost always stand by their initial decision seems to illustrates this.
The one thought that contradicts the ideas Murphy presents, is that at some point, Frost must have taken a different path because not everyone can write poems like he did.
This is an excellent lecture and I believe he is correct about Robert Frost's 'dark side,' as all great poets and thinkers must, of necessity, visit the dark side of themselves and of the collective consciousness of mankind in order to bring deep empathy and understanding to their work. This is why so many relate to his work. We all have a dark side. However, I do believe that Mr Frost (as well as Emily Dickinson, who is also misunderstood) is describing meditation and spiritual enlightenment.
I was just looking at the order CZcams put some of our comments in, and I think it's difficult to follow this thread, and sort of funny. They used to be better at this. Anyway, Berryman? I am intrigued by the "Dream Songs," and "Farewell" always gets to me. His father's suicide. . . and I wonder if he was thinking of that poem years later when he jumped from the bridge. I really should study his work more. So many tragic endings of those confessional poets. Hey, thanks for asking! You like him?
As a writer, the lecture is very interesting (good cover ... right). However, having resided much further north in New England, you find a different culture than the lower states. New England culture, of wide open rural spaces - huge snowfalls - isolation and when fortunate, the kindness and generosity of your neighbors, is a melting pot of 'clam chowder'. Like one of my past neighbors Stephen King; writing is more of the imagination and self observation, Frost having come to NE from the west; he will always be "from away" (as some New Englanders expresses to those not born in parts of NE). I studied literature, and find it amusing to hear the opinion of a professor on an artist; is it their own thoughts and opinions, or that of the institution, media, surveys, or public opinions?
We are humans with lives beyond our art. We create, others analyze, our work or our personal lives? Does the personal life of a writer matter, if fiction? If I say 'this in my art', years later will I be accused of saying 'that'?
However, I too enjoy the compiling investigative research of analysis.
I believe his values are universal to the human soul where ever on Earth. He himself commented on this and against the confine of these principals to nation borders. These are values in which the USA is seen to protect, but the desire and nature of these principles are in all people.
I try to, but youtube is like having a delayed satellite transmission, and an intermittent mic at the same time. LOL! Be well David, and I hope you continue to enjoy the fine art of poetry. :)
Nice one
Yes, though I have not been able to find much time to read or listen to his large body of work. A movie is in-the-works about him. (Facebook has a link) Phillip Levine remembers Berryman fondly, which makes him worth examining further. Yes his end was tragic, but he was more than his worst day would imply, as we all are. Have a good week! :)
wow this was awesome....he is a great lecturer..i never thought about the poem in the way that he presented it
It relates how we negotiate with our own ego. We wish to think that we did better, or the best in life. In actuality neither path would made a big difference in the pleasures and sorrows of life, except for minor details...
Poetry is not for logic and debate. It's for enjoying the use of words and conveyance of a message. As someone has stated, poetry is about "felt thought".
The dash at the end of the the third line of the last stanza coupled with the repetition of the pronoun "I" at the end of that same line and the beginning of the next line seems to indicate that the speaker regrets his original choice. Of course, the real ambiguity lies within how one interprets the word "difference," the last word of the last stanza of this great masterpiece. Interpretation lies within the psychological framework of the reader. This "open interpretation" is why "The Road Not Taken" is timeless and eternal. Life is filled with choices--any one of which can result in success or failure in Man's synthetic world.
@ShiftyJackal I don't see how "deceiving" and "rationalizing" are a part of the poem. but I like your last sentence which explains the poem in a neutral way. Yes, it's about how a person views their decision after they've made it. the guy in the lecture says that the "all the difference" line could be positive or negative.
It's astonishing how many people could overlook so many straightforwardly equivocal lines of the poem and only selectively hone in on certain phrases (e.g. FLW) and press them into their celebratory individualistic expectation. This shows the importance of teaching reading skills and openness to the unexpected in a text...
So their not entitled to their opinion, but you are?
Wow.
@@alanbarton4170 Who says they are not entitled to their opinion? Not me. Everyone can misread freely, of course, just as they can read freely. I am just expressing astonishment at how widespread our confirmation bias is and how strongly it operates even in the face of undeniable textual evidence to the contrary.
It's like someone took Hitler's 'My Struggle', overlooked the parts about the jews, and then claimed the book was not anti-semitic. Actually, now I wouldn't be surprised any more if some Germans at the time did that.
@@LieslIncorporated wow you're still active after 14 years
(Part Two) He continues explaining how there was really no difference in the roads. "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./" (honesty again)
"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,/" Here's the lie. He already confided in us that they were the same
The lie. He lied to you. Really? Well float that boat of yours. I suggest you ponder your choice of motivations. Is it even necessary in the enjoyment of great art?
I only quoted you the actual words. ;-) And while there is a bit of what if about this poem, there is also some what is, and what I we tell. Thanks! And I wish you the same, good sir.
This was great. Wish I had this guy as a professor.
poets are so rare.
Interesting explanation of the poem. Still, however you interprete it, I think it is one of the best poems around.
He just BLEW my mind.
and boom goes the dynamite
i too remembered the title as the road less traveled.
when i talk to people about America's invasion of countries and genocides that are currently being committed, most of them will say that they dont want to know anything about it, they dont care, and as far as they heard on the news, america is bringing peace.
i talk about the US genocide on Vietnam, or Cambodia and they remember it as a peace mission.
what im saying is this interpretation of the poem is brilliant. People rationalize.
The poem is meant to resonate with people for generations to come. It’s not to go the way less people are going.
I've tried to watch this three times,and each time it keeps stopping at just over 15mins through.Unbable to watch the whole lecture:(
I to will be 70 soon , and my mother's favorite poem was by Frost..... called , I believe "whose woods are these"....I'm haunted by reflection of my life, so many things , that had I been more thoughtful ,I could have reduced the great sorrow of hindsight. That I now realize to late the importance of or the path that would have been more prudent or intelligent . How true that hindsight is 20 20. . How .....if I had more presence of mind ....I should have seen the best, or right path.i can only conclude i squandered , what I realize most valuable.......time , finite, and precious , all I've loved are gone......family , .....youth. so here I sit , and the saying.....you don't know what you've got.....till it's gone. I guess at my age reflection and sorrow go with the territory . This is a heavy weight to bare ....so much so ,that it wouldn't be wise to dwell on the past or I float down a rabbit hole of second guessing every important decision ,and realize the lack of critical decision....or....the lack of thought in choosing a path can greatly effect this short life . Hind sight if honest can bring a verdict ....that I'm a fool ..and this sorrow is a heavy weight ...to bare ..Have mercy on my soul .....battered and bruised ....lonely. I can only hope that for my fellow human on this road of life , my experience is NOT........the status quo . Happiness and piece of mind is the goal so elusive and valuable, without a recipe or a map to Nirvana, one lifetime doesn't seem enough. I wish you all the best of luck ,and truly hope you achieve peace. Hope to see you in the next world.... don't be late. God bless you
Yea! This was my interpretation as well! It’s about telling yourself a story. It’s a comment on post hoc fallacy and confirmation bias.
Make it count, Do It Now,
Don't Wait, (Don't hesitate)!
If there is some good that I can do!....Let me do something good,..... NOW!
Tnx
Though I concede that the poem doesn't state whether the difference was good or bad.
The point about not being able to tell which road was less travelled may be masking another interpretation; perhaps the narrator is supposed to have discovered later that the road he took happened to be the one less travelled and therefore you have to make the best decisions that you can based on limited information.