February 3-February 9

Analyzing poetry can become a mirror in which we can better understand and see ourselves. Poetry is a living and active work that is applicable to the struggles of the time it was composed as well as conflicts of the time it is being experienced by it's readers. We examined the works of classic poets, such as Yeats, Frost, Whitman, and Arnold (some more well known than others). Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"  is a poem that I have had to explicate in every English class since I was in 8th grade. When we examined it as a class I thought "How much fresh juice are we going to be able to squeeze out of this already pressed fruit?". To my surprise, my colleagues we able to draw meaning from the diction and metaphors of the poem that I had never explored. New themes of identity were unearthed and made me think about which "roads" I am choosing or have already chosen to travel down . My colleagues also helped me see the simple language is a great first poem for middle school students to analyze. The theme and purpose of the poem is easy to understand and can give them confidence when attempting other poems in the future.