Robert Frost\'s \"The Road Not

¶ … Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken." To summarize the poem very briefly: the poet comes across a fork in the road. He is not sure which road to take. He tries to gauge how each road was traveled though there seemed no difference between the two roads. He is full of doubts. If he takes the wrong road, will be able to retrace his step? But there was final redemption. The road he chooses is the right one for him.

This poem mirrors aspects of different stages our lives. We are always being presented with choices. Sometimes, a choice feels more attractive and easy. The other, more challenging, is typically more rewarding. The really difficult choices are ones where both roads seem similar. The consequences of one's decision then are more difficult to fathom. There's the fear that a decision might come back to haunt us or might take us so far down a specific path that turning back, retracing one's steps and starting life on the alternative path might become impossible. One hopes that all the decisions taken end up with Redemption.

The second poem chosen here is Walt Whitman's "A Noiseless Patient Spider." The two stanzas of the poem implicitly compare a spider and the soul. Both entities are seeking redemption through achieving goals; but, both are also surrounded by desolation. Whitman urges the soul to take the example of the spider which starting from a metaphorical cog of a wheel spools out its silk, unceasingly and untiringly. And then eventually its gossamer threads find a hold. And from there the foundation of its home are created.

Here we see a parallel between the soul and our lives. We are often surrounded by desolation. And as man by nature is social, we often are governed by the fear that our attempts at finding someone or a meaning for our lives will be met with failure. But we have to keep trying; we have to keep expanding our horizons and casting out those nets. Because foundations to relationships are there, and will eventually and invariably be found.

For the informal portion of this essay, I approach answering this query from a different perspective. Very often, the weather is the start of conversations with our friends, family members and acquaintances -- even casual ones. One revels if the weather is good, especially on a nice spring day that is not quite hot but certainly a mark of winter's departure. On the other hand, if the weather is unfriendly, one commiserates with those involved in the discussion. I will explore the notion of the state of the weather not withstanding, how we react to it is a reflection of our souls. We will enjoy the weather if we are in a good mood. We will not if we are not in a good mood.