Discovering the
Hidden Meanings in Poetry
Cynthia Smith
Buist Academy
Charleston, South Carolina
http://hidden-meanings-of-poetry.wikispaces.com/
“Poetry,
like all wonderful things,
can be more admired when it is
fully recognized.”
Michael Clay Thompson
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.
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
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.”
Discussion
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”?
Individualism
• What’s tricky about this poem?
• What are some of the themes?
Discussion
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?
Discussion
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
Discussion
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.
Discussion
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;
•
•
•
•
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?
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.
Discover the Hidden Meanings
Regret
Discussion
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.
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
I shall be telling this with a sigh
wanted to take the “road less traveled”,
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- so even though there was no road less
I took the one less traveled by,
traveled (they were the same) he will
And that has made all the difference.
lie about it.
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 http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/road.htm
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
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.
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.
“Poetry is awesome!”
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?
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.
Publish a book
such as a class poetry book or individual student
autobiographies with original photos or artwork.
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ReadWriteThink Printing Press
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My Publisher
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A poet uses hidden meanings to
make a poem more complex and
more enjoyable.
Anniversary by Vicky Brago-Mitchell
Why do most people assume
that the two roads represent the
choices people make in life?
Poets can use
figurative language
and imagery
to convey meaning.
Gossamer by Vicky Brago-Mitchell
Haiku
Wild thistle blossoms
seen even by the eyes of
the garden-less poor.
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.
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
Hidden by darkness,
even old herons feel safe
from the hungry hawk.
-Matsuo Basho
-(1644-1694)
When a cuckoo sings
on a hill, tea-pickers stand
stock-still to listen.
-Matsuo Basho
-(1644-1694)
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.
How does an understanding of
the elements of Haiku
help you to appreciate it more?
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
Poets can use
sounds of voice
to convey meaning.
Gossamer by Vicky Brago-Mitchell
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
Sounds of Voice
Some sounds are hard.
They convey a harsh negative meaning.
They are
scratchy,
spiky,
harsh.
“The Darkling Thrush”
• The tangled
bine-stems
scored the sky
like strings of
broken lyres.
letters
Sounds of Voice
Some sounds are soft.
They convey a positive meaning.
They are
fluty,
soothing,
humming.
“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
murmuring bees
... the moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees.
Come Down, O Maid
Sir Alfred Tennyson
Poets can use
patterns of sound
to convey meaning.
Gossamer by Vicky Brago-Mitchell
Meter
Foot
syllables
2
3
1st stressed
trochee/
trochaic
dactyl
dactylic
last stressed
iamb
iambic
anapest
anapestic
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
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.
Rhyme
• Masculine –
– One syllable
• Feminine –
– Two-syllable, second syllable unstressed
Rhyme
• End Rhyme
– Rhyming words at the end of the lines
Rhyme
• Internal rhyme
– 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
Rhyme
• Near rhyme
– Sounds close
• Sight rhyme
– Words look the same, but sound different
Advanced Rhyme





Half Double
Elided
Amphisbaenic
Reverse
Apophany
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.
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.
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.
Reverse Rhyme
 the entire first syllable is the same
He was a native
From the Cherokee Nation
Who understood the importance of nature.
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.
Scoring Rubric for Rough Draft of Poem
5
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.