In the past it was commonplace for ideas and events to be presented to the audience in the form of an
eloquent speech in the manner of
Cicero, or for a
meaningful statement about human existence to be placed within the lines of a
poem a la
Robert Frost. Frost wrote:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
But by this is it implied that the
difference made was beneficial or otherwise, or simply just difference? Today
the act of writing poetry or meaningful
verse is in itself a road less traveled by, and in some ways the verse is a bit circular.
Today it can be interpreted that the traveled path might be pursuing a nine-to-five job and spending leisure time watching sitcoms and sports on television, while the one less traveled by would be trying to eke out a meager living by writing poetry about the situation.
In today's world, where the majority demands 24-hour laugh track-laden television programming, blockbuster movies with plots and storylines barely written above a third-grade level, sugar-coated pop music and sport utility vehicles the size of small buildings, there is little demand for and little encouragement given to individuals taking the road less traveled by.
The end result is that the only difference made by taking the road less traveled by means not being able to afford a bite to eat along the way.
If Frost could see down past the undergrowth where today's Road Less Traveled By bends, the sight of all the corpses of those who starved to death just a few hundred yards down the way would be just cause for him to re-think such a decision.
- angry genius boy, why poets and spoken word artists are dumb.