Comparing and Contrasting Poems

Comparing and Contrasting Poems

Poems have so many meanings that can vary from one person to the other. For me the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost has many differences with the poem “If you forget me” by Pablo Neruda. However at the same time, they have similarities that caught my attention. Some of the similarities between the two poems are their iambs, personification and the simple language; meanwhile their differences are in rhymes, freedom and repetition.

Among the similarities between these two poems, first of all in the Frost’s poem you can see the presence of iambs in the first line. The author draws an image in me when he mentions in the first line “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…” (Frost 1stanza 1line). There are difficult choices in life and it may look like two roads and you can just choose one. When I saw this line immediately I saw myself in a tough situation looking for the right one. On the other hand in Neruda’s poem when he said “…if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window…” (Neruda 2 stanza 2 to 4 line). The image is made automatically in my mind. Another similarity is the personifications that appear in both of them. For example “The Road Not Taken” says “…road wanted to wear…” (Frost 2 stanza 3 line). It is clear that the road in this case is getting human qualities. In “If You Forget Me” poem the author gives the same human qualities to Chile, the place where the author was born. After reading the poem I understood that it was dedicated to his country Chile. Hence, when the example of a personification is when it mentions “…if little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little…” (Neruda 3 stanza 2 to 3 line). In addition, both poems have a simple and easy language. When you have those elements you make it easy and very understandable to the reader. At the same time both poems aside from these similarities have their differences.

Among differences of these two great poems, Frost’s poem you can see how perfectly he rhymes in his lines. A great example of this is the first stanza, specifically the first and the fourth line. For example “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…” that was the first line and the fourth says “…And looked down one as far as I could… As it can be appreciated in both lines is a slant rhyme. On the other hand, Neruda’s poem has no rhyme at all. Another difference is the liberty of both characters in the poems. In Frost’s poem the character is free to choose what road he wants, but in Neruda’s poem he is not free because he is always waiting for another person to do something before he does. The other difference is the repetition of the phrase “if you”. This could be appreciated throughout Neruda’s poem and even in the title of the poem of “If You Forget Me”. Meanwhile, Frost’s do

...