A Road Less Taken by Happy Couples

My high school literature teacher was probably one of my favorite and best teachers I've ever had... Though, I can honestly say that all my high school teachers were phenomenal (as well as my college psychology professor)...
My literature teacher had us do many projects regarding reading and poetry and she would introduce an author to us and tell us all about the history of that person... Where he or she grew up, what kind of family he or she had, etc... and I found myself (day) dreaming of these writers as she introduced them to me. Many lived such interesting lives. Many of them had sad endings. Most of them were recognized posthumously (a word I learned from the same teacher) as a good writer!

That seems to happen a lot with writers and artists! They're no good until their dead! Maybe it's a supply and demand issue... ? ...

Anyways, by learning about these people, I learned to love their work because I felt so attached to them personally that I could understand what they were saying.
There have been many writers whose talent is obvious, and works are adored... but I find absolutely intriguing because I feel like I know them.
Emily Dickinson was so eccentric and wouldn't even come out of her room when she was older! She'd peer out through the door being just slightly cracked open to see people. People would converse with her basically by correspondence! After she died, she had hundreds upon hundreds of poems written and stashed in her closet! Strange... yet it makes the oddity of her writing make so much more sense!
Then, there is Edgar Allan Poe, a creepy, dark-hearted fellow who was poor and strange. He married his cousin. He disappeared for 5 days, showed up somewhere that 5 days later and died alone. His works, however brilliant, were tainted with dark and odd characters, strange circumstances, and tales not any normal human would think up, "Quoth the Raven"... Need I say more?

So I was thinking about poetry today and my favorite authors and I started thinking back to a poem that I have loved since I heard it in that high school literature class. It was written by one of my favorite poets, Robert Frost and it's called:
"The Road Not Taken"

Here it is:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost had much despair in his life, but he seemed to always reach for the good. I like him. I respect him. I find so much soul in his poetry.

However... My most favorite poet is actually a pair of poets... The Brownings.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning has one of the most simple and sweet poems that I adore... It's called, "How Do I Love Thee" and it has always been a favorite of mine!
Are you ready for it?


How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

That's a beautiful poem... but to understand that Elizabeth Browning was about as much in love with her husband as he was in love with her makes it all the better! He would often write love poems back to her - just as sweet! They were a perfect match and a beautiful happy couple... which; I think, makes the poem all the more powerful!

Tonight I shall go to sleep and dream of roads less taken by happy couples.

Good night!

Dack Mum <3