No Words Quite Suffice
Those of you who were in my 8th grade English class may remember this (but probably not):
One day, we read "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. The teacher asked the class what they thought the poem meant. I thought about it for a moment, then raised my hand.
"Yes, Emily?"
"I think he's thinking about going into the woods to kill himself, but then he realizes that he has 'promises to keep' so he decides not to."
"...Interesting." The entire class erupts in laughter.
"Actually," the teacher continues with a knowing smile, "this poem is about Santa Claus." Oohs and ahhs resound from my classmates. But of course! How clever!
After class, Cathy caught up to me and said, "I really liked your interpretation of the poem."
I liked my interpretation too, and preferred it to the version taught in class.
And so that memory was filed away in the back of my mind as the one time when I said something completely absurd (at least according to everyone else) and yet still believed in it wholly.
Well guess what?
Today I found out I was right all along. Indeed, it's quite commonly accepted that Frost had intended to infuse his poem with themes of life and death.
On a hilarious side note, here is someone who had a completely opposite experience with this particular poem:
http://juniorcollege.blogspot.com/2005/12/robert-frost-is-santa-clause-and-more.html
One day, we read "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. The teacher asked the class what they thought the poem meant. I thought about it for a moment, then raised my hand.
"Yes, Emily?"
"I think he's thinking about going into the woods to kill himself, but then he realizes that he has 'promises to keep' so he decides not to."
"...Interesting." The entire class erupts in laughter.
"Actually," the teacher continues with a knowing smile, "this poem is about Santa Claus." Oohs and ahhs resound from my classmates. But of course! How clever!
After class, Cathy caught up to me and said, "I really liked your interpretation of the poem."
I liked my interpretation too, and preferred it to the version taught in class.
And so that memory was filed away in the back of my mind as the one time when I said something completely absurd (at least according to everyone else) and yet still believed in it wholly.
Well guess what?
Today I found out I was right all along. Indeed, it's quite commonly accepted that Frost had intended to infuse his poem with themes of life and death.
On a hilarious side note, here is someone who had a completely opposite experience with this particular poem:
http://juniorcollege.blogspot.com/2005/12/robert-frost-is-santa-clause-and-more.html