Both poems involve taking a journey on a road. In Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," the narrator, traveling through the woods, reaches a place where the road forks into two different directions. He has to make a decision and go one way or the other. He chooses the road less traveled and says that has made "all the difference."
Likewise, in Oliver's "Journey," the speaker must make a decision about which way to go: staying home and "mending" her ways to become a conformist doing what others say is right, or following her own heart and going out on the road. She, like Frost's narrator, chooses to reject conformity. As in Frost's poem, the road becomes a metaphor for the journey we take in life as we make decisions to go one way or another: in Oliver's case, the road is "full of fallen branches and stones." This suggests...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
that like Frost's road, it is less traveled than other paths through life.
Oliver's speaker, however, is more intentional about her life choices, whereas Frost's simply meets life as it comes and makes his decision in the moment. Frost's narrator states the road he has taken has altered his life, but we get the impression he could have easily taken the other path and followed the more conformist route. Oliver's speaker, however, poses her journey as an intentional contrast with the past and one that garnered her great benefits as she found and "saved" her life. Frost's poem is quieter: the narrator says his choice mattered, but doesn't say why, leaving that to the reader to interpret.
Thematically both poems are similar. Both place an emphasis on nature and its importance. Both poems are also mainly about the speaker making a choice. The choice for both speakers is the same as well. In both poems the choice is made to follow their own beliefs and not follow what the world is telling them or showing them. Frost chooses to take the road less traveled. Oliver chooses to listen to her own voice and save the only life she knows that she can save . . . hers.
In contrasting their themes, Frost's poem emphasizes a much more internal struggle and decision-making process than Oliver's poem. Frost is on a road, by himself, and the only outside influence is which road looks more worn. In Oliver's poem, however, there are other people's voices actively trying to sway and influence her internal thought processes. She has to move away from all of that to hear and feel clearly. Frost is already alone.
Structurally Frost's poem has 4 stanzas each with 5 lines. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB. The rhythm is a bit tougher. Some might say it is iambic with an unstressed-stressed beat pattern to it, but that doesn't fit quite right since each line has 9 syllables. An anapest works for that, but the stress doesn't always land on a syllable or word that is typically stressed. For example in the opening line, an anapest would put a stress on "a."
Oliver's poem is written in a single stanza of free verse, so there is no rhyme scheme or set rhythmic meter. There are some internal rhymes here and there, like the "knew/do" in the opening two lines.