Poetry+Comparison+Assignment

2. Carving A Name

I wrote my name upon the sand, And trusted it would stand for aye; But, soon, alas! the refluent sea Had washed my feeble lines away.

I carved my name upon the wood, And, after years, returned again; I missed the shadow of the tree That stretched of old upon the plain.

To solid marble next, my name I gave as a perpetual trust; An earthquake rent it to its base, And now it lies, o'erlaid with dust.

All these have failed. In wiser mood I turn and ask myself, "What then?" If I would have my name endure, I'll write it on the hearts of men,

In characters of living light, Of kindly deeds and actions wrought. And these, beyond the touch of time, Shall live immortal as my thought. 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.

 In the poem “Carving A Name”, by Horatio Alger, the theme was a message. It was presented that for one to be remembered, their mark must be left on the world by doing extraordinary feats of kindness, which shall be remembered for much longer than feats of great evil. One can arrive at this conclusion through several points in the text. The person has carved their name upon sand, wood and marble, in finding a way to be remembered. All three have seemed to fail them, and at the conclusion of the poem, they find that to write one’s name in history, to be remembered, can only be achieved by metaphorically branding one’s actions into the heart of men. In contrast, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, showed a theme that was of life choices, and taking the riskier, less traveled by road, to achieve greater goals in life. This is shown because the traveller comes to a fork in the wood, which symbolizes an important decision in their life. They choose to take the road less travelled by “and that has made all the difference.” It’s described that the grassy, unworn road seemed fresher and more appealing to the traveller, and it seems that they have chosen a more unconventional path, that has lead them to a better place in life. The content of these poems are also quite different.

“Carving A Name” is a poem about a person who yearns to be remembered long after they are gone. Due to this desire, they decide to carve their name into materials, as a sort of memorial to themselves in sand, wood, and marble. As each in turn failed the person, they finally came to the realization that in order to truly be remembered, one must write their name on the hearts of men, by doing deeds and actions of great kindness and honour. Only then, could one’s name render itself immortal. It has a very solid, if typical, plot line of introduction, rising action of two and a half stanzas, then climax of two lines, and a falling action and conclusion wrapped up in the last stanza. However, “The Road Not Taken” speaks of a person who in traveling through a yellow wood, which is a symbol for a forest during fall and to their life, comes to a fork in the road. The plot line is one of a introduction in two lines, a rising action in three stanzas, a climax in one line, and a conclusion in the last line. Lastly, is a comparison of poetic devices.

“The Road Not Taken” had a rhyme scheme of A, B, A, A, B over four stanzas, with a different rhyming sounds for each stanza. In contrast the rhyme scheme in “Carving A Name” is one of A, B, C, B. “The Road Not Taken”, is full of symbols, the roads symbolize the traveller’s life, the grassy unworn road was a symbol for an unconventional choice that led to greater results. In “Carving A Name” , the most often occurring literary devise would be imagery, as demonstrated by the examples of " // an earthquake rent it to its base, and now it lies, o'erlaid with dust." // and //"The refluent sea had washed my feeble lines away"//. Overall, these two poems were very different, but both passed along important life lessons.