The poems “The Raven” and “The Road Not Taken” by Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Frost are masterpieces of American and world literature written in 1845 and 1916, respectively. The first mentioned text tells a story about a mourner talking to the raven to find answers to the questions that worry him. The poem impugns the immortality of the soul, and this makes it revolutionary by the standards of that time. “The Road Not Taken” depicts the challenges faced by any individual who must make a choice. The narrator stands at the fork and thinks on which road to take. Eventually, he decided to go on a less popular path. From first sight, it seems that the poems do not have much in common. Nevertheless, analyzing “The Raven” and “The Road Not Taken” demonstrates similarities and differences simultaneously; for instance, they share the topic of relations between nature and a human being as well as the issues of decision-making and rationality but consider them from different perspectives. The current essay examines how the previously mentioned topics were reflected in the poems of Poe and Frost.
The first issue addressed by both poems is one of the connections between man and nature. Through interaction with animals or woods, the narrators comprehend inner worries, doubts, fears, desires, and hopes. Besides, in both poems, nature is used as a metaphor. From reading the texts, it becomes evident that the protagonists are alone, and communication with nature happens only in their minds, not in reality. The principal character of Poe’s poem converses with the raven, who finally informs him that he would never see his beloved Lenore again (Poe 15). This dialogue with a bird looks like an attempt of the narrator to persuade himself that she is gone, and he must keep on living alone. Frost tells a story about the choice that should be made because the process of the narrator’s standing at the fork reveals that he fears to take a wrong decision (Frost 9). In both cases, nature reflects the emotions and thoughts of the protagonists and could be viewed as an inner dialogue conducted with the attempt to learn yourself.
The second topic that unites both works of literature is the issue of decision-making. The common ground is that both main characters think about their present and future and try to understand how to live further. The narrator tries to accept the fact of her death and move on but occurs to be unable to do so. Choosing between forgetting and keeping the memories, he wants the latter. The raven’s refusal to “take thy beak from out my heart and take thy form from off my door” proves this statement (Poe 15). Talking about decision-making in Frost’s poem, it should be noted that the author writes about a hard choice that every person sooner or later should make. What is more, according to Al-Jumaily, Frost informs the readers that the consequences of the choice might not always be positive, and they must bear responsibilities for their decisions (19). Thus, Poe writes about the necessity to make an undesirable and painful decision, whereas Frost talks about the importance of thinking about the possible consequences.
The third topic that could be found in both poems is one of rationality. More precisely, this theme implies the debates between rationality and irrationality. The difference is that the character of Frost’s poem is illustrated as a rational actor. That is so since he thinks about the future and the choice that should be made. This conclusion is based on the lines in which Frost says that the narrator is standing for a long time at the fork, looking “down one as far as” it is possible (Frost 9). These actions are commonly done when a person wants to make the most rational decision that would make him better off. Moving to “The Raven”, though Poe used “rational approach” while writing the poem, his main character could hardly be called sensible and sane (Harris 869). The protagonist knows that the raven would answer all the same; however, he questions over and over again. This way, it could be inferred that Frost’s poem shows how people could come to a rational decision through thinking and reflection. On the contrary, Poe illustrates that the same processes could deprive an individual of rationality and take away common sense.
In conclusion, it should be mentioned that the two previously mentioned poems are entirely different in their attitude to the indicated topics. More precisely, Poe and Frost address the issue of connections between the narrator and nature, the living beings. The latter is used as the reflection of thoughts of the former. “The Raven” and “The Road Not Taken” vary in how they consider the themes of rationality and decision making (Poe 14-15, Frost 9). That is driven from the fact that the poems are dedicated to different life circumstances and the personalities of the leading characters. Poe tells a story about a grieving man who tries to escape his feeling but sees no entrance from what is going on. Frost’s protagonist has hardships as well since he is burdened by the necessity to make a significant decision that could affect his future life. The mentioned differences create unique tones and contexts for each of the two poems and signify that they have more dissimilarities even though some common features are present.
Works Cited
Al-Jumaily, Ahmad Satam Hamad. “A deconstructive study in Robert Frost’s poem: The road not taken.” Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics, vol. 33, 2017, pp. 16-22.
Frost, Robert. Mountain Interval. Henry Halt and Company, 1916.
Harris, James C. “Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven.” Archives of general psychiatry, vol. 65, no.8, 2008, pp. 868-869.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven.” New York: The Evening Mirror, vol. 1, no. 13, 1845, pp. 14-15.