"Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)"
Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
`
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.
Robert Lee Frost
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1874 was an American
poet in the early 1900’s with his first poem published in his school newspaper. Frost had
attended college at Dartmouth College for two months and returned home trying work at
various jobs that he did not enjoy. This made him realize his true calling was to be a poet.
In 1894 he sold his first poem “My Butterfly: An Elegy”. Frost continued his career to
become a four time Pulitzer Prize Winner for Poetry. Frost’s had a difficult life
considering all the deaths in his family. First his father died of tuberculosis in 1885, his
mother died in 1900 from cancer, and had to commit his younger sister to a mental
institution where she died nine years later, only two out of six of his children outlived
him, one of which committed suicide. Frost’s life was a difficult one with many
struggles, his main struggle was going against society to become a poet, but showed
everyone how talented he was by becoming a one of America’s most known poets.
Billie Joe Armstrong
Armstrong is the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist of the band Green Day.
Armstrong was born on February 17th 1972 in Oakland, California. His father died of
cancer when he was only 11 years old. Billie was the youngest of six and attended
Carquinez Middle School where he met, Mike Dirnt, another member of Green Day.
During their middle school and high school years Billie and Mike were constantly made
fun of for their music interests and clothing choices. They both diverted from the societal
norms making themselves two great examples of nonconformity. They first called their
band Sweet Children, but after Billie stayed on guitar and Mike switched to bass in 1989
they became the three man band known as Green Day. They have won various awards
including 4 Grammy Awards and 11 MTV Music Video Awards.
Thesis
Robert Frost uses a more direct angle towards showing his nonconformity by saying he
chose the path less taken, while Billie Armstrong takes a more sentimental and positive
look at the fork stuck in road by showing that life in unpredictable, but in the end its
right.
Robert Frost Literary Techniques
Rhyme Scheme- Frost uses an ABAAB rhyme pattern
Imagery/Symbolism- The whole poem revolves around the image of a path in a forest
that is symbolic for choices in your life, with all the potentials of each path in front of
you.
First Person- Frost begins in the present tense talking about a fork in the path that is
front of him now, a symbol of a choice he has to make now then switches to the past
tense to talk about a decision he make in “ages past” that made all the difference in his
life, referring to a very critical decision in his life.
Switching Tone- A part of the poem that changes the tone of the poem is when he says “I
shall be telling this with a sigh” it makes it seem as though he regrets his decision that he
made in the past, but the ending lines of the poem change his tone back to satisfaction of
his decision, meaning this sigh could be from the difficulty of the path he took.
Green Day Literary Techniques
Refrain/Repetition- “It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.” Is the repletion in the song, and it is important
because of the tone of hopes for happiness in choices you have made in your life.
Second Person- The entire song Armstrong is speaking to the audience by using you and
this makes the song more personal to the audience.
Tone- The tone is melancholy and hopeful at the same time, the music makes it seem sad
and somber, but the lyrics bring a more uplifting feeling because of the lines “I hope you
had the time of your life”.
Comparison
Both the American poet Robert Frost and lead vocalist of Green Day, Billie Joe
Armstrong remembers times in their lives where they have had to make important
decisions. Robert Frost’s approach is more direct in that he explains how he chose the
path less taken, referring to his choice of becoming a poet, which was looked down upon
by society in the 1900s. Frost refers to two forks in his life the one he is presently
standing in front of and the one of his past. Frost use of words brings a satisfied feeling
from the poem to make the choices made in his past acknowledged as good if not great
choices. Similarly in “Good Riddance” by Green Day, Billie Armstrong talks about the
inevitable forks that you will face in your life. This inevitability is shown through “time
grabs by the wrist and directs you where to go” showing that there is no way to avoid
these choices. Armstrong uses more hopeful lyrics to create a more positive tone than
Frost’s poem by telling his audience to “make the best of this test” and “it's something
unpredictable, but in the end it's right.” Saying no matter what choices you make in your
life, try your best to make your life a good as it can be and you will always end up
making the right choices in your life.