Journeys

Rewrite of my speech. The Journey. Journeys can be long, journeys can be short, journeys can be difficult. Life is a journeys, something we all experience. My understanding of the concept of journey has been expanded through my study of the set texts: The poems by Robert Frost ‘The Road Not Taken’ and ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’. As well as my additional texts: the poem ‘Enter Without so much as Knocking’ by Bruce Dawe and the poem of Robert Gray ‘Late Ferry’. Robert Frost in his poems presents the journey as paths we have to choose from, but he also tells us that we always shall choose the right one for us and not the one others may say we should choose. Frost uses inversion in his poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, for example he writes “Long I stood, and looked down one as far as I could”. It tells us that the decision is not easy to make, you have to take time to think about it and not just rush into it. The two roads he has to choose from are the extended metaphor; they represent the journey of life and two different paths in life. Once he had chosen the road that was less travelled, he realised that it was the road that was going to shape the rest of his life (his destiny), it was the right one for him, he writes “I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference”. However as well as making choices in life, Frost shows us that the journey can be very difficult and sometimes we just want the journey to end. In ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’ Frost uses imagery to show us that in life we come upon choices we have to make, that choice is whether to continue our journey or not. We might feel like just giving up and ending our journey, to stay in the woods “Between the woods and frozen lake” but through repetition he tells us that we have to continue because we have responsibilities and promises to keep, as he writes “And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep”. Frost also writes “The woods are lovely, dark and deep”, this shows us, through the imagery used, just how tempting it might be to just stop and forget everything and everyone. So what Frost is saying about journeys are that they can be paths we have to choose from or decisions and choices we have to make. He also tells us that we should always choose the right ones for us and not the ones that maybe make us wealthy or successful if we won’t enjoy what we have chosen. However Bruce Dawe in his poem ‘Enter Without so much as Knocking’ shows us that many tend to choose the paths that make them wealthy and not the ones that provide a wealth of happiness. In ‘Enter Without so much as Knocking’ Dawe uses onomatopoeia. He writes “Now what the (beep beep) does that idiot think he’s doing (beep beep beep) “, this tells us that people are starting to get frustrated with each other and that it might be caused by them choosing the wrong paths in life. As a child the persona in the poem tells us that he never wants to become one of those men who are backstabbing liars and choose wealth over happiness, but it was bound to happen someday. He writes “Pretty soon he was old enough to be realistic like every other godless, money-hungry, back-stabbing, miserable so-and-so”. In Robert Gray’s poem ‘Late Ferry’ the perspective of journey is not so much different to Dawes ‘Enter Without so much as Knocking’. He tells us about the late ferry making its way over the huge dark harbour to the city that looks like a Busby Berkeley spectacular. In this poem Gray uses a simile, he writes “The palm tree tops make a sound like touches of the brush on a snare drum”. This gives the impression of a windy night, but the sound that is described is a calm soothing sound. Gray also uses imagery in this poem, he writes “I stay to watch from the balcony, as it goes up onto the huge dark harbour”. He is telling us through the imagery that the harbour is huge and very dark, this gives us the vibe that there might be something dangerous about this journey from one end to another. He also writes that the ferry is like a moth being drawn to the lights of the city. This can be the extended metaphor in this poem telling us that we are drawn to things that might look good but that they might not always be the best. So through my studies of these poems I have come to the conclusion that we might not always know what the best paths are for us but that we will always do our best to choose the right one. If we choose the ones that will make us wealthy we might never experience the happiness of the right ones, but if we choose the right ones for the sake of happiness we will always be able to become wealthy, wealthy with happiness. As Roosevelt said “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort”. By Nina Alexandra McIntosh.