This paper will compare literary works by three artists: religious leader and author Thomas Merton, painter Vincent van Gogh, and poet Robert Frost. The discussion will analyze some aspect of the writing of each of these important figures and explain how my reading of their work helped me to clarify some issues in my own life in a specific way.
The piece of art which I have chosen to analyze by Robert Frost is his poem, "The Road Not Taken" (Frost, 755). The poem is relatively short, only four stanzas of five lines each. But the message in the poem is very clear. Like almost all of Frost's poetry, his specific, detailed visual observations make his images stand out in the reader's mind. But Frost's poetry is more than a list of beautiful images, his poems also have meaning. Frost uses his images to convey a deeper meaning about life.
In "The Road Not Taken," Frost tells a story about two roads which emerge from a yellow wood. The poet wanted to travel both roads but acknowledged that he could not travel both. So he spent some time looking at both roads: one road was not as worn as the other. Frost deduced that one road was less traveled than the other because the grass was not as worn down, meaning fewer people had walked down that road than the other. Both roads, he surmised, were equally fair. In other words, both options were good ones. Nevertheless, Frost chose the road less traveled, even knowing, as he walked down the more remote path that "way lead to way" and thus, his decision to take one road instead of the other meant that he doubted he would ever come back to take the other road.
This poem seems simple but it really does say something about the way that life works. I compared Frost's way of thinking with a recent experience in my own life. I have recently met some people from a foreign country. None of them had many friends in this area and so I extended my hospitality and helped them find their...