> He would have been unhappy with the other choice as well
> "No matter which road you take, you'll always sigh, and wish you'd taken another."
There's no disagreement here. It's the same interpretation of the poem.
Re:My Biggest Regret as a Programmer
by petewailes on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @07:00AM
(#11437938)
To clarify, the part I was referring to more was that the roads are basically the same. This is different, as there's a manifest difference between being a programmer and being a manager. Should have made it clearer that's the bit I was referencing, whereas the rest is more a divergent note about the poem more generally.
Re:My Biggest Regret as a Programmer
by BatFastard on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @08:55AM
(#11438420)
Take the path that lets you spend more good time with your family and friends. Those experiences add to the fabric of life more than money does.
Money buys time and freedom and security.
Actually it doesn't buy time or freedom, usually.
In my experience, most (not all, but most) of the people who have a lots of money acquire it by working long days and having little free time. They also have little freedom because they are so tied to their job.
Again, everyone with lots of money doesn't have this problem, but in my experience most of them do.
This is one of my favorite things about Frost and his poems. The same thing happens with "Mending Wall" where people only remember "Good fences make good neighbors".
Yeah, except, while that may be the intention of the poem doesn't make it true. Sometimes a poem becomes something more than what the poet intended.
Reality is, some choices really do effect our lives and don't lead to the same place.
Quoting:
"Though as for that the passing there/Had worn them really about the same/And both that morning equally lay"
The poem states that the two roads are basically the same.
Further points of interest...
"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."
The author knows his own folly: that he'll look back and say it was an important choice, that he picked the path that was more special. When of course in fact he did no such thing. It's a poem about how people self-aggrandise and think their choices more important and better than they are.
Of course, no-one ever actually reads anything other than the last two lines, so the point of the poem ends up being missed. Which is ironic, given the actual message.
Fun fact: the poem was written with Edward Thomas, a good friend of Frost's, in mind. Frost said of Thomas:
"No matter which road you take, you'll always sigh, and wish you'd taken another."
Thomas was invariably lamenting how he should have taken the other option in any case where there were two things to choose. Which sheds a little light on the humour in the poem.