Poetry+Comparison+Essay

Poems:

7. 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 marked 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.

and

9. Out of Habit They discuss things in the car driving nowhere up and down the streets so that if one of them screams or weeps the kids won’t be disturbed. The kids are at home watching a Disney flick in the family room.

She is not sure how much she will tell him whether to mention the other man or maybe just the job having to keep her away.

He sits too erect, arms stiff, hands tight. Tonight is different in a way he doesn’t know What has happened? What is going on? Everything he says begins with but. It’s raining. He can’t find the wiper switch..

She wishes she’d brought some cigarettes. Now that she has started she has to finish the job. Somewhere in this purse there are cigarettes. His rational spiel is almost over. She breathes deeply. mumbles that she doesn’t want to be married. She has no reasons. Just that. There is no traffic, no one on the sidewalks. She looks at house lights through wet glass. How many of them, she wonders, how many.

He pulls into a closed service station. Trying to expel the pain, coughing, crying, he doubles over, slams himself against the door,

She lights a cigarette and takes a slow drag. He looks like one of those black and white films, the old ones where nothing much happens.

He gets out, walks a while in the cool rain, over and over slamming wet fist into wet palm.

Her breath mists the windows. He gets in, turns on the defogger, the headlights, the wipers. Out of habit, the car returns them to the house.

When one first looks at these two poems, they instantly notice something similar about them: they are not positive poems. Both poems have a gloomy atmosphere; “The Road Not Taken” has implied gloom (once one analyses the poem, they can infer the dark atmosphere), while almost everything about “Out of Habit” is gloomy. One can see the difference between the structures. “Out of Habit” focuses on story, while “The Road Not Taken” is orientated on analyzing one moment in the poet’s life (albeit a very important moment). As well, “Out of Habit” is narrated in 3rd person, while “The Road Not Taken” is narrated in 1st person (it’s narrated by the poet who is making the big decision in their life). The ending verse for both of the poems have significant meaning. “Out of Habit”’s last line: “Out of habit, the car returns them to the house.” really helps to emphasis how unusual and out of the ordinary the couple’s life is. “The Road Not Taken”’s last line: “And that has made all the difference.” gives the readers a conclusion to the results of taking the less travelled road. There is a clear difference in length, “Out of Habit” is significantly longer than “The Road Not Taken”, this is mostly because “Out of Habit” tells a story. Both poems have amazing flow and are extremely well-written though; the meanings for both poems are intriguing and thought-provoking.

The theme for both of the poems share major similarities; they are both about being different (how ironic, they are similar by being different). “The Road Not Taken” is about choosing the road less traveled on (being different from everyone else), while “Out of Habit” is about being out of the ordinary (it’s about changing and not being your old self). At the same time, they have differences: “The Road Not Taken” is about rebelling against the majority, while “Out of Habit” is rebelling against themselves (changing who one is). Even though they are both about being different, they are about being different in different ways. In “The Road Not Taken”, the poet is himself, the decision he made was him simply being who he was born to be. In “Out of Habit” the couple are totally different to what society would think they would be, they are different not being themselves, they are changing to be THAT couple, they are being the couple they never wanted to be. Both poems have similar use in poetic devices though.

The poetic devices for both poems are very similar. The titles themselves have very significant meanings, they both summarize the main theme of both poems. Both poems have very good symbolism. “The Road Not Taken” is both a symbol and a metaphor for making a big decision in one's life. “Out of Habit” has several small symbols, for instance, the car is a symbol for the path of change. Both have a good sense of repetition, “The Road Not Taken” has a habit (get it, habit, haha) to repeat “and” a lot (to increase emphasis) while “Out of Habit” often repeats key aspects such as “cigarette”. A notable difference between the two is that “The Road Not Taken” has no notable similes while “Out of Habit” has no notable metaphors. “The Road Not Taken” has a lot of alliterations, while “Out of Habit” does not. “Out of Habit” has a lot of allusions (mostly because it constantly alludes to the outside world) while “The Road Not Taken” does not. “The Road not Taken” has lots of rhyme and rhythm, while “Out of Habit” is told as a story, and has no clear rhyme scheme. Most importantly both poems have excellent irony; “Out of Habit” has dramatic irony,in which, the one day it’s raining, the man cannot find the wiper switch, while “The Road Not Taken” has dramatic irony, in which, being the one who tries something new is what drastically changes the person (usually, people overstate the unknown and it isn’t much different from the other option).