Over seven billion people live on planet Earth; some plain sail through their lives, while others trudge through the difficulties they face. In the poems “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, the message trying to be sent to the readers are both about instances in life. Readers of these two poems can pinpoint certain poetic techniques that both authors use. From both authors’ use of symbols, metaphors, and repetition, the theme exploration may result in “new findings” or the confirmation of “old findings” emerges.
Within each poem, both authors use a symbol to represent life and its choices. In the poem “Mother to Son,” the mother uses a staircase to symbolize her life:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair
It’s had tacks in it
And splinters
And boards torn up
And places with no carpet on the floor-
Bare. (Hughes 2-7)
In this case, the mother’s symbol for her life is accurate because in life people always have to keep on climbing or looking forward. There is only the future ahead of everyone’s lives and the mother’s confirmation of her hard life has caused her to think that way as well. On the other hand, Robert Frost’s
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Just to explore the meaning a little bit more, this quote could also mean, do not give up. Another instance a metaphor is found is in the first stanza of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,”: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both” (Frost 1-2). As stated above, Frost’s poem is about choices, and in this quote, the two roads are the choices someone could make. From reading the second line, readers can tell that the author is reluctant to go down only one path and would instead like to choose both paths in order to explore as much as possible. Exploration can be found present in these metaphors, but they also can be present when “old findings” are confirmed through