Conor+K




 * __The Road Not Taken: Robert Frost__**

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

Frost wanted to say that taking a route in life that is not often traveled can lead to wonderful experiences and important lessons. This poem is rather simplistic in that it contains only rhyme and maybe some symbolisom. However the symbolisom is indeed powerful in that he compares life to a forest with all its twists.

__**Forgetfulness: Billy Collins**__

The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart

Billy has definitly departed from the old style. The only thing he uses is deep imagery to describe the deep recesses of the human mind. He expreses the failures of the human mind to contain its entire amount of experiences.

Ere Eden blossomed wild, Or earth received a form, Ere the Eternal voice Called sunshine from the storm; Ere on chaotic deep The empire of old night-- God looked, and tumult fled, God spake, and all was Light; Music, first born of heaven, Left not her natal bower, 'Till Ages' chronicler Proclaimed Creation's hour; The strain of harmony The depths had never heard, There Silence reared her throne, Till Light and Song appeared.
 * __Music of Light: William B. Tappan__**

Then in their choral spheres Rejoicing planets ran, Then, sovereign of the world, Arose immortal Man! Then heard the Star of Morn, Along the wavy air, Soft strains of Music float That Seraphim might share; Unearthly was the sound, It spake to raptured sight; And subtle sense received The Melody of Light.

Sweet was the dulcet strain, Loud the ascending song, That o'er the eternal plain Mellifluous rolled along; And, say! when Deity Alone sublimely stood, And blest a virgin world And called his labour "good"-- Broke not forth brighter rays Of glory, o'er the whole? Say, woke not He a chord Of Music, to the soul!

Ages passed by, and He, The Paschal Lamb was slain; Death held not Deity, Immanuel rose again; Now o'er the darksome tomb, The couch on which He lay, Lo, Resurrection pours Floods of undying Day; Say! is not Music there Where Light and Life are shed? Yes! and mankind shall share Those strains, when worlds have fled

Tappan has used metaphors in great excess to compare music and light. This is clearly a creation poem and is used to show the love of god and his glory. A good quote for this poem is "For music was the voice of god, and needed no translation."