No, I was not referring to his famous poem “The Road Not Taken”. I was merely wondering to myself that if Robert Frost, noted American poet had been successful in his farming endeavour while he was spending 9 years on the farm given by his father, would he have continued in his poetic quest and left a rich legacy to this very day? Well, we’ll never know, will we?

Yes, you might argue that he did write those poems while working on his land but then again, was his mindset centred on farming or on poetry? Again, history has proven to us that he has taken the other road and not the one given to him. That’s my interpretation anyway. Many have concluded that his poems hold a more pessimistic look and sinister feel behind the words and does not actually denote the rural façade that he portrays on the surface. Again I say: to each his or her own interpretation. After all, everything is open for interpretation be it poetry or something else.

I’ve
always held the notion that the meaning behind any poem ought not to be according to what the poet wants it to be but rather how you yourself “connect” to it. If you over-analyse the words, the supposed meaning in each and every line, you might end up misinterpreting the whole thing. However, if you simply look at it from your personal point of view, it would hold a more meaningful insight which would better serve you in as far as creativity goes.

Take his poem “The Road Not Taken” – it’s one of his best works. Yet, it did not please me as the other 2 favorites of mine, “Fire and Ice” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay”. What can I say? I’m just an ordinary woman who enjoys the simple things in life. And to conclude, here are some of Frost’s quotes produced on YouTube for the “cyber” world to devour. View it and enjoy: