1. Discovering the Hidden Meanings in Poetry
Cynthia Smith
Buist Academy
Charleston, South Carolina

2. “Poetry, like all wonderful things, can be more admired when it is fully recognized.”
Michael Clay Thompson

3. Introduction Read The Road not Taken by Robert Frost
What main themes do you think the author was trying to communicate?
Be careful! Robert Frost said this is a tricky poem.
Look for hidden meanings.

4. Uncover the Hidden Meanings
The Road Not Taken
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.
Small group – list ideas / themes.
Listen to the author reading the poem.
Discussion – Uncover hidden meanings
Read scholarly discussions

5. Warning
“I’ll bet not half a dozen people can tell you who was hit and where he was hit in my Road Not Taken.”
“I should like to be so subtle at this game as to seem to the casual person altogether obvious. The casual person would assume I meant nothing or else I came near enough to meaning something he was familiar with to mean it for all practical purposes.”

6. Discussion Individualism
The Road Not Taken
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.
What is the obvious meaning to the “casual person”?
What’s tricky about this poem?
What are some of the themes?
Individualism

7. Discussion What is the obvious meaning to the “casual person”?
The Road Not Taken
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.
What is the obvious meaning to the “casual person”?
What’s tricky about this poem?
What are some of the themes?
Which phrases refer to which road?

8. Discussion Same Different
The Road Not Taken
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.
What is the obvious meaning to the “casual person”?
What’s tricky about this poem?
What are some of the themes?
Which phrases refer to which road?
Are the two roads the same or different?
Same
Different

9. Discussion Discover the Hidden Meanings Indecision
The Road Not Taken
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.
What is the significance of :
“And that has made all the difference.”
If the two roads are equal, how can the decision make “all the difference”?
What is he looking for as he is trying to decide which road to take?
What is the significance of “the better claim”?
Which road does he take? Why?
Which phrases describe the “road less traveled”?
Discover the Hidden Meanings
Indecision
He is placing undue importance
on this decision, which
causes him to be indecisive.

10. Discussion Discover the Hidden Meanings What is the significance of :
The Road Not Taken
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.
What is the significance of :
“Sorry I could not travel both”
“I shall be telling this with a sigh”
Why does he call the poem The Road NOT Taken?
Discover the Hidden Meanings
Regret

11. Discussion Discover the Hidden Meanings
The Road Not Taken
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.
Why does he say they are the same at the beginning, and then at the end, say they were different?
Discover the Hidden Meanings
Rationalizing
When he is old, his remembrance
will not be in line with reality. He
wanted to take the “road less traveled”,
so even though there was no road less
traveled (they were the same) he will
lie about it.

12. Scholarly Discussions
For the large moral meaning which "The Road Not Taken" seems to endorse - go, as I did, your own way, take the road less traveled by, and it will make "all the difference"- does not maintain itself when the poem is looked at more carefully. Then one notices how insistent is the speaker on admitting, at the time of his choice, that the two roads were in appearance "really about the same," that they "equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black," and that choosing one rather than the other was a matter of impulse.
But in the final stanza, as the tense changes to future, we hear a different story, one that will be told "with a sigh" and "ages and ages hence." At that imagined time and unspecified place, the voice will have nobly simplified and exalted the whole impulsive matter into a deliberate one of taking the "less traveled" road.
From Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered. Copyright © 1984 by William Pritchard

13. Scholarly Discussions
A close look at the poem reveals that Frost's walker encounters two nearly identical paths: so he insists, repeatedly. The walker looks down one, first, then the other, "as just as fair." Indeed, "the passing there / Had worn them really about the same." As if the reader hasn't gotten the message, Frost says for a third time. "And both that morning equally lay/ In leaves no step had trodden black." What, then, can we make of the final stanza? My guess is that Frost, the wily ironist, is saying something like this: "When I am old, like all old men, I shall make a myth of my life. I shall pretend, as we all do, that I took the less traveled road. But I shall be lying." Frost signals the mockingly self-inflated tone of the last stanza by repeating the word "I," which rhymes - several times - with the inflated word "sigh." Frost wants the reader to know that what he will be saying, that he took the road less traveled, is a fraudulent position, hence the sigh.
Jay Parini
From "Frost" in Columbia Literary History of the United States. Ed. Emory Elliott. Copyright © 1988 by the Columbia University Press

14. Scholarly Discussions
The sigh can be interpreted as a sigh of regret or as a sigh of self-satisfaction; in either case, the irony lies in the distance between what the speaker has just told us about the roads' similarity and what his or her later claims will be.
Frost might also have intended a personal irony: in a 1925 letter to Cristine Yates of Dickson, Tennessee, asking about the sigh, Frost replied: "It was my rather private jest at the expense of those who might think I would yet live to be sorry for the way I had taken in life."
Finger, Larry L. (November 1978). "Frost's "The Road Not Taken": A 1925 Letter Come to Light". American Literature 50 (3): 478–479.

15. Just kidding
According to Frost, the poem was intended as a joke, a gentle jab at his great friend and fellow poet, Edward Thomas, with whom he used to take walks through the forest. Thomas always complained at the end that they should have taken a different path.
When the poem was published, Frost sent a copy to Thomas. Unfortunately, Edward Thomas did not recognize it as a poem about himself, and Frost had to explain it.

16. “Poetry is awesome!”

17. Inquiry: I wonder… How can I learn to figure out hidden meanings?
Why do poets hide meanings?
How can I write poetry with hidden meanings?

18. Establish a Purpose for Learning
“Real products for real audiences.” - Joseph Renzuli
Learning experiences should lead up to a final purpose that is significant and worthy of effort.

19. ReadWriteThink Printing Press
Publish a book
such as a class poetry book or individual student autobiographies with original photos or artwork.
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Blurb
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20. A poet uses hidden meanings to make a poem more complex and more enjoyable.
Anniversary by Vicky Brago-Mitchell

21. Why do most people assume that the two roads represent the choices people make in life?

22. Poets can use figurative language and imagery to convey meaning.
Gossamer by Vicky Brago-Mitchell

23. Wild thistle blossoms seen even by the eyes of the garden-less poor.
Haiku
Wild thistle blossoms
seen even by the eyes of
the garden-less poor.

24. Haiku a type of Japanese poem A haiku evokes a feeling of tranquility.
It is light and delicate.
It often illustrates some aspect of nature.
Haiku was once part of ancient Japanese courtship rituals.
A man would send a Haiku to the woman he loved. If she liked the poem (and the man), she would write a tanka in response.

25. What are the elements of Haiku?
Form: 5 – 7 – 5, no rhyme scheme
Topic: Nature
Feeling: evokes tranquility, compassion
Contrast
Kigo: a word that indicates the season
Engo: associated words rising from the same concept, similar to our similes and metaphors
Kake kotoba: a pivot word with multiple meanings or connotations. "The pivot word shades into the pun, and some Japanese poems have so many puns that they may have two or more quite dissimilar meanings.” - Rexroth

26. Hidden by darkness, even old herons feel safe from the hungry hawk.
Matsuo Basho
( )

27. When a cuckoo sings on a hill, tea-pickers stand stock-still to listen.
Matsuo Basho
( )

28. Matsuo Basho One of the most famous, prolific haiku poets Japanese
When his poems were translated, some of the words had to be changed.
The English words have the correct number of syllables, but other aspects of the Haiku might be missing.

29. How does an understanding of the elements of Haiku help you to appreciate it more?

30. Hidden meanings can be discovered through an analysis of the poetics of a piece of literature.
Sounds of Voice
Hard vs. soft
Onomatopoeia
Patterns of Sound
Meter
Rhyme
Alliteration

31. Poets can use sounds of voice to convey meaning.
Gossamer by Vicky Brago-Mitchell

32. Hidden meanings can be discovered through an analysis of the poetics of a piece of literature.
The point is to use sounds artistically, secretly, to bring the character to life.
An author blends in touches of softness,
or hardness, throughout a passage,
in a way that will have an effect on the reader
without calling attention to the sounds,
without being showy.
Michael Clay Thompson

33. They convey a harsh negative meaning. They are
Sounds of Voice
Some sounds are hard.
They convey a harsh negative meaning. They are
scratchy,
spiky,
harsh.

34. “The Darkling Thrush”
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky like strings of broken lyres.
letters

35. They convey a positive meaning.
Sounds of Voice
Some sounds are soft.
They convey a positive meaning.
They are
fluty,
soothing,
humming.

36. “Tis but thy name that is my enemy
“Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is not hand nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. O be some other name!
letters

37. murmuring bees
... the moan of doves in immemorial elms, And murmuring of innumerable bees.
Come Down, O Maid
Sir Alfred Tennyson

38. Poets can use patterns of sound to convey meaning.
Gossamer by Vicky Brago-Mitchell

39. Meter Foot syllables 1st stressed last stressed 2 3 trochee/ trochaic
iamb
iambic
dactyl
dactylic
anapest
anapestic

40. How can you tell if a syllable is stressed?
chick : en
fa : ther
a : lone
re : fridg : er : a : tor
tor : men : ted
a : sist : ing
pre : vail

41. Limerick
There was a Young Lady whose eyes, Were unique as to color and size; When she opened them wide, People all turned aside, And started away in surprise.

42. Rhyme complete defeat calling, falling Masculine – Feminine –
One syllable
Feminine –
Two-syllable, second syllable unstressed
complete
defeat
calling, falling

43. Rhyme She went to bed And bumped her head End Rhyme
Rhyming words at the end of the lines
She went to bed
And bumped her head

44. Rhyme Internal rhyme I’m sorry for letting the dog eat the broom
Rhyming words in the middle of the lines
I’m sorry for letting the dog eat the broom
I’m sorry for freeing a frog in your room

45. Rhyme George, surge cough, rough Near rhyme Sight rhyme Sounds close
Words look the same, but sound different
George, surge
cough, rough

46. Advanced Rhyme
Half Double
Elided
Amphisbaenic
Reverse
Apophany

47. Half-double Rhyme
the last syllable of one word rhymes with the next to the last syllable of the other.
The fearsome beast gazed upon the man Who was standing on the savanna.

48. Elided Rhyme
two syllable words that would be a perfect rhyme except for the vowel in the second syllable
He could see by her face that she was livid When he asked her where she lived.

49. Amphisbaenic Rhyme two identical syllables in reverse
All the children ran to get their magic kits hoping to get the one with the special stick.

50. Reverse Rhyme the entire first syllable is the same
He was a native From the Cherokee Nation Who understood the importance of nature.

51. Apophany
beginning and ending consonants are the same, but not the vowel in between
They fed the fat cattle to make them ready for the kettle.

52. Scoring Rubric for Rough Draft of Poem5 3 1
Ideas
All parts of the poem work together to support one, easy to identify, main idea. The main idea is fully developed.
There is one, easy to identify, main idea, but some parts of the poem do not support it.
The main idea is well developed, but something seems to be missing.
It is not easy to recognize the main idea. The main idea needs to be developed.
Meter
Student has made a strong attempt to maintain a pattern of meter. Student can identify the meter and the places that still need to be worked on.
There is a pattern of meter, but there are many places where the stress of syllables does not fit the pattern.
It is difficult to identify the pattern of meter. Sounds “off”.
Rhyme
The student has included at least one type of rhyme and / or has a plan to incorporate more.
end rhyme, internal rhyme
advanced rhyme: sight rhyme, near rhyme, amphisbaenic, apophany, half-double, elided, reverse
There is one type of rhyme, but student is unsure about how to incorporate other forms.
There is no rhyme.
Rhyme Scheme
The rhyme scheme has a consistent pattern, which works together with the pattern of meter.
There is a rhyme scheme, but is not consistent OR it is inconsistent with the meter.
There are parts of the poem that have no rhyme scheme.
Sounds of Voice
The student has used a preponderance of sounds of voice to effectively convey meaning.
The student has a plan to include:
a preponderance of hard sounds to convey a negative meaning.
or a preponderance of soft sounds to convey a positive meaning.
Onomatopoeia
Student is unsure about how to incorporate sounds of voice.
Patterns of Sound
The student has included one or more patterns of sound:
alliteration
assonance
consonance
The student has a plan to include patterns of sound.
Student is unsure about how to incorporate patterns of sounds.