Merinda+L



//**Carpe Diem**// //**by Robert Frost**// Age saw two quiet children Go loving by at twilight, He knew not whether homeward, Or outward from the village, Or (chimes were ringing) churchward, He waited (they were strangers) Till they were out of hearing To bid them both be happy. "Be happy, happy, happy, And seize the day of pleasure." The age-long theme is Age's. 'Twas Age imposed on poems Their gather-roses burden To warn against the danger That overtaken lovers From being overflooded With happiness should have it. And yet not know they have it. But bid life seize the present? It lives less in the present Than in the future always, And less in both together Than in the past. The present Is too much for the senses, Too crowding, too confusing— Too present to imagine.


 * Analysis:** In this poem, Robert Frost is saying that age comes upon everyone, and one must not dwell on that thought. He says we must live in the moment and be happy. As the poem's title says, we should seize the day. This poem uses personification, rhyme and repition.

//**Man and Camel**// //**by Mark Strand**// On the eve of my fortieth birthday I sat on the porch having a smoke when out of the blue a man and a camel happened by. Neither uttered a sound at first, but as they drifted up the street and out of town the two of them began to sing. Yet what they sang is still a mystery to me— the words were indistinct and the tune too ornamental to recall. Into the desert they went and as they went their voices rose as one above the sifting sound of windblown sand. The wonder of their singing, its elusive blend of man and camel, seemed an ideal image for all uncommon couples. Was this the night that I had waited for so long? I wanted to believe it was, but just as they were vanishing, the man and camel ceased to sing, and galloped back to town. They stood before my porch, staring up at me with beady eyes, and said: "You ruined it. You ruined it forever."


 * Analysis:** The camel is a reference to a cigarette, and the man is the narrator himself. He tells the story about how he feels great when he's smoking. In the end, when the "camel and man" vanish, the narrator dies of his smoking habit. This poem uses alliteration and imagery.

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;
 * //The Road Not Taken//**
 * //by Robert Frost//**

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


 * Analysis:** The narrator compares choices with roads, and says that one road can be taken. He says people enjoy the better looking road, rather than the other. He decides to take the other road, the choice that no one else has made, and it proved later on that it was the best decision. This poem uses metaphor, imagery and alliteration.