thing #42

When I made my list of 101 things, I didn't dream that I would be memorizing poetry within the first two weeks of my 1001 days. Well... I was talking with a friend last week who made mention of 'the road less traveled'... which of course made me think of Robert Frost's famous poem... of which only ONE line I knew prior to this little exercise. Sooo... re thing #42: memorize a poem...

Let it be known that it was much easier to memorize things in my twenties than it is in my forties! At any rate, after four days of working on memorization ... I think I've got it. I love the meter, and the way it rolls off my tongue... and actually, I would like to learn more about the poem from a literary perspective... so I'll probably do a bit more study of it...

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost (1874–1963)

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.