The Road Less Traveled By

2015-09-01 · letter vlog · John · 3:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Personal life, Everyday life) · mode: Personal essay

John argues that Frost's 'The Road Not Taken', meant to gently mock agonizing over small choices, is remembered as advice to take the road less traveled because it sounds good, which shows how poetry can really shape choices and why language needs care.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Kayaking the White River: at a low-water island John takes the less obvious channel, thinking of 'The Road Not Taken'

• ★★ Kayaking the White River that morning, John reached a low-water island, thought of Frost's 'The Road Not Taken', took the less obvious stream, and found it was less obvious for a reason. (playful) — 00:00:01

  “two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less travelled by”

00:00:24 — Three points about the poem; Frost wrote it gently mocking his indecisive friend Edward Thomas, who took it seriously, enlisted and was killed in World War I

• ★★★ John says the poem is interesting because it is partly responsible for the death of the person it was written for, most people draw the opposite of Frost's intended conclusion, and that dissonance says something about poetry. (hedged) — 00:00:24
• ★★ Frost was inspired by many walks with his friend the English poet Edward Thomas, an obsessive, indecisive man who could never choose at a fork in the road. — 00:00:43
• ★★★ In Frost's mind the poem gently mocked people who obsess over the importance of tiny decisions, but Thomas didn't get the joke and took it very seriously. — 00:01:04
• ★★★ Though too old to be expected to enlist, Thomas 'took the road less traveled', joined the British army to fight in World War I, and was shot through the chest and killed. — 00:01:19
  • check: shot through the chest — doubtful

00:01:30 — Everyone adopted Thomas's reading; why 'take the road less traveled' is alluring and why it is bad advice

• ★★ Since then nearly everyone, John included, has adopted Thomas's reading; a rule like 'follow the path that others don't' is alluring and lets everyone feel like a nonconformist. (hedged) — 00:01:30
• ★★★ John's objections: if everyone takes the road less traveled it becomes the more traveled; often the more traveled road is so for a reason, like a kayak-unfriendly marsh or the pleasures of spouse, kids and minivan. — 00:01:54

00:02:13 — Dear Hank and John listeners facing big life decisions; choosing with limited information, e.g. marriage

• ★★ On their podcast Dear Hank and John they get many questions from listeners making huge life decisions: whether to join the military, which college, whether to attend college at all. — 00:02:13 · Dear Hank and John
• ★★ Humans constantly make big decisions with very limited information; John had no idea on his wedding day he was also agreeing to be co-CEO of 'a company that raises children and mows lawns'. (playful) — 00:02:26 · Sarah Urist Green

00:02:51 — Poetry on Dear Hank and John; the poem sticks because it sounds good, so it biases choices; poets and readers must be careful with language

• ★★ John insists on opening each Dear Hank and John episode with a short poem, which has led to recent discussions of whether poetry matters and what it does. — 00:02:51 · Dear Hank and John
• ★★★ Because poetry is musical and rhythmic it sticks in our heads (he memorised this poem by accident); Frost meant to explore how people experience choice, but because it sounds good it seems like good advice. — 00:03:06
• ★★ Though he knows it isn't consistently good advice, John suspects that at his next fork in road or river the iambic lines will return and bias him, however minutely, toward the road less traveled. (hedged) — 00:03:21
• ★★★ John calls this one example of how poetry can really matter in real people's lives, and why poets and readers alike must be very careful with language. (hedged) — 00:03:37
• ★ John closes that we don't want to end up like Edward Thomas, but nor like the poet who, at least in a roundabout way, killed him. (playful) — 00:03:48

Threads in this video

• told · John kayaks the White River and takes the less obvious channel into a marsh (September 2015) — John tells of kayaking the White River that morning and taking the less obvious stream round a low-water island, which led to a kayak-unfriendly marsh. (00:00:01)
• refine · Does the author's intent matter to what a work means? — John says nearly everyone, himself included, reads the poem as Edward Thomas did, the opposite of what Frost intended; the reading against the author's intent is the one that shapes real choices. (00:01:30)
• first on record · Is the less common, unconventional choice usually the better one? — John argues the road less traveled is not always better: if everyone takes it, it becomes the more traveled, and the common road is often common for a reason. (00:01:54)
• restate · What is art for? — John says poetry can really matter in real lives: because it is musical and memorable it shapes choices, so poets and readers must be careful with language. (00:03:37)

Mentioned

Central: Edward Thomas · poetry (concept) · Robert Frost · The Road Not Taken

Also: authorial intent · British Army · Dear Hank and John · decision-making · England · Sarah Urist Green · White River (Indiana) · World War I

Also centred on poetry (concept): I, Too, Dislike It · Does Anyone Else Have This?

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