National Poetry Month: The Road Not Taken

We have come to the end of my celebration of National Poetry Month. It was nice to revisit some of my favorite poems by Robert Frost and find a few I new ones. I'll cap off month with Frost's most popular.


The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

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 shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.


I hope you have enjoyed. Thanks for stopping by.

Kristin : )

National Poetry Month: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

It's Thursday, which means it's time for another Robert Frost poem. This is a well known one and another one of my favorites.


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of the easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


Thanks,

Kristin : )

National Poetry Month: Robert Frost + The Outsiders

I'm honored to be part of Savvy Verse & Wit Blog Tour to celebrate National Poetry Month. Thanks to all of you who stopped in today. Some of you have been here before (thank you for your continued support) For others just landing here for the first time... welcome :)

Poetry is what first grabbed my creative attention as a child and has led me on my path to becoming a writer. One poem that really took hold was by Robert Frost.

I, and every other preteen in my world, was completely obsessed with The Outsiders when it came out in 1983. I had one friend that would rush home to rewatch it everyday after school. I was not that obsessed, but would occasionally tag along when lured by snacks. We actually talked out a life plan of moving to Tulsa, OK and becoming taxi drivers (she had really good snacks LOL). It's funny what a kid thinks is an exciting career. Quotes from the movie became our vocabulary for an embarrassing amount of time. "Stay Gold Pony Boy," is possibly the most remembered line. It was the last words spoken by Johnny before dying, but that fact alone did not sear that phrase into my mind. For me it was what he was referring to that has stayed with me ever since. Johnny had shared a poem with Pony Boy as they watched the sunrise while hiding from the police. The poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

It's one of Frost's shorter poems, but to me, one of the most powerful in message. Enjoy the beauty in life, it is short lived. This poem, seamlessly folded into a pop culture movie lead me to read more of Frost's poems and then other poets, and so forth. It grabbed hold of my young heart and pushed me down the path that I am still trying to find my footing on today.

I still love Robert Frost and play around with prose when the mood hits, although more for me that for anyone else. Writing has been a passion and past time for me since, but has just recently became a career possibility. In November of 2008 I had my first novel published, The Truth Lies in the Dark. I am working on many writing projects now and hope to see some of them made public soon.

To celebrate National Poetry Month I will be posting a different Robert Frost poem every week in April and of course, I'll be hopping over to many of the blog tour stops to read more poetry stories and celebrations.

Thanks,

Kristin : )

National Poetry Month: Into My Own

Here's another good one by Robert Frost

Into My Own

One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.

I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.

I do not see why I should e'er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.

They would not find me changed from him they knew--
Only more sure of all I thought was true.


To me this poem is about plunging into the unknown, setting aside the fears and uncertainty of the future, of what lies on the other side of that journey through the dark forest.

What does it mean to you?

Thanks,

Kristin : )

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate I'm posting a different Robert Frost (one of my favorite poet) poem each week. I am also taking part in a celebration blog tour set up by Savvy, Verse & Wit . Make sure to stop back on April 15th for my post about how Robert Frost and The Outsiders influenced and led me to the writing path I am on now.

Today's poem by Robert Frost is perfect for the Spring

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.

This Robert Frost poem was copied from a book I purchased for my kids, in hopes of igniting their inner creative whims. Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost

What's your favorite poet or poem?

Kristin : )