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Journeys Analysis Poems

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Submitted By duchayne
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Robert Frost and Shaun Tan use different mediums and techniques in order to represent similar ideas about journeys. Journeys can lead to self-growth. Choice, change, discoveries and new experiences can all result in having undertaken a journey. Shaun Tan and Robert Frost have each explored these ideas in their texts The Arrival and The Road Not Taken.

In Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, Frost conveys his perspective on the journey through the use of a variety of language techniques. Journeys involve choices, which can slightly or significantly alter the paths we take in life as the poem consists of two roads which metaphorically represent choices. “ Two roads diverged ... and that has made all the difference” demonstrates how the author has learned to take responsibility for the choices he has made in life and is content that choices make who we are. Robert Frost uses several techniques such as metaphors, repetition and symbolism. Repetition displays the character’s frustration towards making choices and symbolism shows the unseeable end to this path being taken. The main technique used is metaphor as the whole poem represents the journey of life and the choices that are a part of it. The journeys in life we take can lead to choices that change our life forever.

Throughout a journey an individual must make a variety of choices. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost clearly shows the composer’s thoughts on making choices throughout a journey. In the first stanza of the poem it says, “ Two roads diverged in a Yellow wood”. Frost has made use of a metaphor to convey that there are multiple paths which can be chosen in life. Colour symbolism is also used to provide the reader a sense of caution using yellow, symbolising warning. Each road also leads to different places; one may not be as enlightening as the other as stated in the poem, “ Long I stood, and looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth”, which provides the reader the sense of difficulty in the scenery on the path taken. “Then took the other, as just as fair, having perhaps the better claim, it was grassy and wanted wear”. This path is the opposite, being the easier path. This poem is a great reflection of Frost’s idea that a journey presents several choices. Depending on which choice is made, people can grow.

Each journey taken is a choice made by one individual. This is clearly illustrated in Shaun Tan’s image, The Arrival. Through thorough analysis of the image, the viewer can imagine that people on the boat had to make choices to start a new life by undertaking a journey. This is evident using the technique of symbolism as the doves symbolise new life and new beginning. The composer conveys the meaning of new life through an extreme long shot of the scene, including the symbol of the water, which represents their difficulties in their journeys. This shows the composer, Shaun Tan’s thoughts on journeys and the choices that are required for the journey.

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