Moments in Time

Besides writing an essay or a viewpoint with meaning, poems can have meaning, too. Most poems can serve different purposes. Whether a poem is one that you like because you can relate to it or if it is a poem that you enjoy reading in school, or either way you found the poem, they have a purpose, a message for the reader. With this being said there is one poem, or a the end of a poem, I had to memorize for a grade in high school for Honors Humanities was written by Lord Alfred Tennyson. The class was taught by Ms. JoAnn Hollenbach. Since we had to memorize it for a grade, it ended up being my favorite. This is a section of a poem that has meaning. If you read it once you may not understand what it means, but if you read it twice you will get form an interpretation that will be different from others.

"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to
yield."

--"Ulysses", Lord Alfred Tennyson

Another poem I remember reading in high school is a called "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. From reading this poem, it is about choices. Once you choose a path, there is no turning back to take the other you did not pick. Would you rather take a road that is busy with people going back and forth on it or would you rather take the road where no one has ventured on with fresh, crispy leaves covered on it? It is all about making the right choice. Choices can either make a big difference or a tiny bit small difference. It just depends on the person and how they want the outcome to be in a situation when given two choices. There is no turning back once you have chosen the path in life. As an example, if you get yourself stuck in a situation and you can not get yourself out of it, then you have made the wrong choice of going down the road that everyone else has taken. You can always choose the road that has not been taken and venture out on your own. Which road you like to take?

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.