The poem is Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." It's a short, simple poem about a person who stops for a moment of reflection. Simple, but with potential for layers of meaning.
Many of these layers are captured in a song, "Dark and Deep," written by David LaMotte and inspired by Frost's poem.
I love the refrain in this song, "A promise is not like a moment; a moment's not something you keep; I've made too many promises lately; and the woods are lovely, dark and deep."
I asked my class to write a reflection about the themes of the poem and the song, looking for how they were similar. A couple of students actually took the assignment very seriously, and I could tell they spent time exploring the depths of meaning.
Instead of telling you what they or I discovered in these works, I'd like to hear from you. I have enough blog fans out there that we should be able to hear from quite a few people. So take a few moments, let all the other stuff take care of itself, and tell me what you hear.
2 comments:
Both authors are reflecting on true-self vs. false-self. Frost uses the man living in the woods and his horse as representitives of himself. The man in the woods is his true-self, and the horse is his false-self. The musician reflects that his life is guided by his false-self. Both authors give a sense of being lost in their words. But it is when they lose themselves that they find that since of finding their true-self. Often times we act and think based on our false-self just because that's what norms direct. But, it's when we take time to step off the beaten path, or "get lost", and reflect on our true-self that we discover the endless unknown possiblities ("the woods") life has to offer. "Norms" or travelers of the beaten path see this as selfish. But is it not true everytime you get lost you discover? And if you watch the youtube video it disects the meaning of being selfish, which by definition is not negative, but rather to discover your"true"self. To me, I'd go knock on the door of the man in woods and talk about life over a cup of joe!
Your sister about summed it all up. My first impression was that of Jim Croce on Provigil and Wellbutrin.
A bit too perky for me.
I did love the positive message. I wish positive, nurturing music was more mainstream and popular. I think we have accomplished about all we can with songs of hate, rivalry, and destruction.
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