Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
April 20, 2012 § 2 Comments
The next time someone tells you that the road less traveled by makes all the difference, you can tell them that Robert Frost didn’t really care what path you took:
“Frost is actually using an old technique known as the “unreliable narrator,” and he isn’t even being all that subtle about it: in spite of the famous quote’s insistence that one road is “less traveled by,” the second stanza of the poem clarifies that both roads are “worn… really about the same.” Oh, and also, Frost himself admitted that he was actually mocking the idea that single decisions would change your life, and specifically making fun of a friend of his who had a tendency to over-think things that really weren’t that big a deal.”
Click through for more misunderstood lines in famous poems/plays/books. And heckle the next graduation speaker to use them incorrectly.
I just shared this with our English teacher who is about to undertake the writing of graduation speeches with all seniors, be they valedictorians or not. Useful info to fuel the writing.
Awesome!! Hope the teacher and your students find it helpful (and fun).