Culture Exam

Question

Hi there!

My name is Tolik Birliba, and I am an English Teacher trainee from Holland. I am almost finished with my first year at the Fontys university in Sittard, and I must say, I think I made a really good choice studying English!

I am now heading for my last couple of exams, but I am still a bit nervous about two of them. The first one is my PSK (practical skills) exam, which will consist of writing a letter. I will not discuss this exam, you can find my questions about it on the following page: .

The second exam, is my Culture exam. I am nervous about this one, because it is a re-sit, my second (and last) chance to pass the course this year! If I pass the culture exam, I will get 6 credits for it, which is a lot, believe me!

That’s why I am posting on this site: I need some help in practicing some subjects. First of all, the geography part. I already know all the states of the USA, but I can’t figure out a way to practice the English counties! They all look alike and have similar names, which is really confusing.

Second: the poems! They are really killing me. I think that is because of the fact that they don’t interest me, but still. I need to find out what their true meaning is. Could anyone help me with the poems “Out, out” and “The road not taken” by Robert Frost? And “Funeral Blues” by Winston Hughes Auden and “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke? It would help me a whole lot, I really don’t get these things..

Well, that’s all for now, I guess! You guys would really help me out with your tips, opinions or links, perhaps!

Thanks!

Tolik Birliba

JohnParis · Accepted Answer

I appreciate "The Road Not Taken", what would you like to know?

Tolik · Answer

well, the core meaning of the poem, would be helpful..

JohnParis · Answer

Well, the poem is about the choices one makes. It's about choices we make when first starting out in life, then about the others we make as life unfolds.

We all have to make choices, and this is just one man's view of the process.

“The narrator comes upon a fork in the road while walking through a yellow wood. He considers both paths and concludes that each one is equally well travelled and appealing. After choosing one of the roads, the narrator tells himself that he will come back to this fork one day in order to try the other road. However, he realizes that it is unlikely that he will ever have the opportunity to come back to this specific point in time because his choice of path will simply lead to other forks in the road (and other decisions in life). The narrator ends on a nostalgic note, wondering how different things would have been had he chosen the other path.

Many people feel that the core of the poem is simply a nostalgic commentary on the myriad of choices life offers. The narrator decided to seize the day and express himself as an individual by choosing the road that was “less travelled by.” As a result of this decision, the narrator claims his life was fundamentally different from what it would have been had he chosen the more well travelled path.

Many see the narrator’s decision to choose the “less travelled” path demonstrates as an indication of his courage. Rather than taking the safe path that others have travelled, the narrator prefers to make his own way in the world.

Looking closer at the text of the poem, it becomes clear that such an idealistic analysis is largely inaccurate. The narrator only distinguishes the paths from one another after he has already selected one and travelled many years through life. When he first comes upon the fork in the road, the paths are described as being fundamentally identical. In terms of beauty, both paths are equally “fair,” and the overall “…passing there / Had worn them really about the same.”

It is only as an old man that the narrator looks back on his life and decides to place such importance on this particular decision in his life. During the first three stanzas, the narrator shows no sense of remorse for his decision nor any acknowledgement that such a decision might be important to his life. Yet, as an old man, the narrator attempts to give a sense of order to his past and perhaps explain why certain things happened to him. Of course, the excuse that he took the road “less travelled by” is false, but the narrator still clings to this decision as a defining moment of his life, not only because of the path that he chose but because he had to make a choice in the first place.” ⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾http://www.gradesaver.com/the-poetry-of-robert-frost/study-guide/section11/

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