Comparison of Point of View between The Road Not Taken and Those Winter Sundays

Comparison of Point of View between The Road Not Taken and Those Winter Sundays

Poetry authors employ narrative and artistic techniques to pass the intended message. Most of the time, there is a hidden detail and symbolism in poetry for the reader to decipher (Madden 52). Robert Hayden and Robert Frost have successfully employed distinct point of views in Those Winter Sundays and The Road Not Taken respectively.  While thematic similarity exists in the way narrators express their regrets, a sharp contrast is evident in the speakers’ personalities.

The narrator in The Winter Sundays uses tone of guilt and sorrow to describe her relationship with his father.  The speaker openly laments the ungrateful nature of his family towards her father. She states that his father worked hard to provide for the family while nobody appreciated his effort. Furthermore, he also expresses remorse throughout the poem by using figurative language to expose the depth of his regret and sadness. 

A narrator split between two choices in life characterizes Robert Frost in The Road Not Taken. The point of view is marred by contradiction and controversy as the speaker mocks his tendency to look back at his past. In the final stanza, for instance, the narrator refers to the initial stanza to express his contentment, though his decision is irreversible.

Similar to The Road Not Taken, the narrator in Those Winter Sundays plays a critical role in painting the picture for a reader regarding the poem’s plot. Robert Hayden carves the poems’ point of view around the speaker to explain a frosty relationship between a father and son, with a focus on the father's role (Goldstein et al. 251).

A contrasting point of view in both poems is evident in the last stanzas. In The Road Not Taken, the narrator resolves his conflict as he understands and experiences the consequences of his decisions. Though narrator in Those Winter Sundays is now a mature man and understands the need to appreciate his father’s efforts, he lacks an opportunity to reconcile with him, thus the continuity of his guilt and regret.

Works Cited

Goldstein, Laurence, and Robert Chrisman. Robert Hayden: Essays on the Poetry. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012: 250-254. Print.

Madden, Frank. Exploring Literature: London: Longman, 2011.1-65. Print.