3 ms·
Ok, a honest question here. And English is my second language, so maybe this is why, but this middle part sounds like compleat nonsense to me. Is it just me and
by x0054 11y ago
Ok, a honest question here. And English is my second language, so maybe this is why, but this middle part sounds like compleat nonsense to me. Is it just me and I don't know how to read poems? Is it how people used to talk back in the day?
> And both that morning equally lay
> In leaves no step had trodden black.
> Oh, I kept the first for another day!
> Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
> I doubted if I should ever come back.
I think I can understand the rest of the poem pretty well, but that 3rd stanza just sounds like random words just tossed together. No? Maybe I just don't get poems.
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y agoPoems tend to be a bit more fluid with word order than ordinary prose.
- plonh 11y agoEnglish poetry alters word choice and order in order fit the pronunciation into patterns of rhythm and rhyme, and to convey emotion by putting certain words together or apart. It is nearly ungrammatical, or you could say that each poem has its own nonstandard grammar. Here is what it means: On that morning there were two essentially similar paths, not walked on so much-- none of the fallen leaves were crushed into dirt. I decided to leave the first path, and walk on it another day. Yet knowing how one path leads on to another, I doubted that I would ever return to this place and have a chance (to walk on that first path)