Poetic+Comparison


 * Poem Comparison: The Old Swing**

She sits on the old swing under the maple, trailing her high heels in the dust, pushing it back a little, letting it go, her eyes closed, remembering when she was small and strong and swing would soar up to the clouds as she tugged on the rough ropes, leaning way back, kicking her legs forward, then falling and pushing for backward lift as a child loves to do on a sunny afternoon on the swing her father has made.

I see her sitting on the old swing under the tree, no longer a child, dreaming. I imagine her pulling and stretching, letting her legs go as she leans back, sweating, pumping for height over the wires and fences, into the torrid sky

as a young woman loves to do on a hot afternoon till the ropes slacken and the rush of the air is stilled and all movement ends down in the dust on the strong swing nature has made. **Poem Comparison: 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.  At first glance, one might believe that these are two very separate poems, however I believe that they go hand-in-hand. The Road Not Taken describes a forest; where a man lay faced with a choice. A choice that would effect him for his entire life. The Old Swing describes an older women, who becomes nostalgic of the times where she had no worries; no responsibilities. She becomes nostalgic... of the time before the trees - before she had to make that big choice. Thematically, one who looked hard enough would discover that The Road Not Taken was a precursor to The Old Swing, and that the protagonist in both are in fact the same person.  The Theme is not the only important thing we need to compare the two poems; we also need to compare the structure and the poetic devises. The structure enumerates as follows. In The Old Swing, it has little rhyme. There are many verbs scattered about such as " // Dreaming", "Trailing", "Pumping", //and //"Pushing",// but I could hardly call it rhyme. The Road Not Taken however, follows an "a-b-a-b-c" rhyme scheme. A good example of this is in the first verse: //"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;" //

Lastly, we come to the Poetic Devices. Both poems have their own amounts of Metaphors and Similes. An example of a simile from The Old Swing would be, "...//then falling and pushing for backward lift, as a child loves to do on a sunny afternoon"//. Not unlike most poems, these two share a unique device; the use of hyperboles. An example of a hyperbole from The Road Not Taken would be, "//I shall be telling this with a sigh, ////Somewhere ages and ages hence:" //It may not be ages and ages until he does sigh about the choice he made - but what we do not know is whether that sigh will be of relief, or regret. One is lead to believe when faced with one of these poems they are about regret - whether that be regret of making a poor decision, or regret something that could not have been prevented; growing up. I too believe believe, that if faced with these two side by side, they tell a story of a women's regretful life that she wishes she could have cherished a little bit more.