Lunch and Learn: “Taking the ‘Right’ Road with Robert Frost’s Poem ‘The Road Not Taken'”

The Road Not Taken Image courtesy of Professor Deirdre Fagan.

The Road Not Taken Image courtesy of Professor Deirdre Fagan.

In Honor of National Poetry Month Professor Deirdre Fagan will be presenting a Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, April 12th entitled “Taking the ‘Right’ Road with Robert Frost’s Poem ‘The Road Not Taken’.” During her presentation, Professor Fagan will explore the meanings behind Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” and how it is often times misinterpreted. Below is a description of what her presentation will cover.

“When United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky did a survey of the American people to identify the most beloved American poet, Robert Frost came out on top. When Pinsky surveyed to identify the most beloved American poem, Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” won first place, followed by Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The popularity of “The Road Not Taken” is at least partly due to a widespread misreading of the poem perpetuated through advertising and commencement speeches, among other means. This misreading is so widespread and reflective of American desires that critic David Orr of The New York Times Book Review recently published an entire book on the poem: The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong.

This Lunch and Learn will provide a close reading of “The Road Not Taken” and opportunity for discussion. Frost’s public is sometimes said to have read him too simply — often as a blissful nature poet or a mere regionalist, But while Frost can sometimes be read simply, even superficially, to do so is to ignore the complexity of this accomplished poet.”

To learn more about this topic and help celebrate National Poetry Month, please join us for the Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, April 12th from 11:00am till 11:50am in Pickell’s Conference Room. As usual, pizza from Jets pizza will be provided for those who attend. Please make sure to RSVP before noon on Monday, April 11th by emailing .

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s