Poetry+Comparison+Assignment

9. Out of Habit  They discuss things in the car driving  nowhere up and down the streets so that  if one of them screams or weeps the kids  won’t be disturbed. The kids are at home  watching a Disney flick in the family room.

 She is not sure how much she will tell him  whether to mention the other man or maybe  just the job having to keep her away.

 He sits too erect, arms stiff, hands tight.  Tonight is different in a way he doesn’t know  What has happened? What is going on?  Everything he says begins with but.  It’s raining. He can’t find the wiper switch..

 She wishes she’d brought some cigarettes. Now  that she has started she has to finish the job. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Somewhere in this purse there are cigarettes. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> His rational spiel is almost over. She <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> breathes deeply. mumbles that she doesn’t want <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to be married. She has no reasons. Just that. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> There is no traffic, no one on the sidewalks. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> She looks at house lights through wet glass. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> How many of them, she wonders, how many.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> He pulls into a closed service station. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Trying to expel the pain, coughing, crying, he <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> doubles over, slams himself against the door,

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> She lights a cigarette and takes a slow drag. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> He looks like one of those black and white <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> films, the old ones where nothing much happens. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> He gets out, walks a while in the cool rain, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> over and over slamming wet fist into wet palm.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Her breath mists the windows. He gets in, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> turns on the defogger, the headlights, the wipers. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Out of habit, the car returns them to the house. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7. The Road Not Taken

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> And sorry I could not travel both <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> And be one traveler, long I stood <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> And looked down one as far as I could <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> To where it bent in the undergrowth;

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Then took the other, as just as fair, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> And having perhaps the better claim <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Because it was grassy and wanted wear, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Though as for that the passing there <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Had worn them really about the same,

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> And both that morning equally lay <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> In leaves no step had trodden black. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Oh, I marked the first for another day! <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Yet knowing how way leads on to way <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I doubted if I should ever come back.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I shall be telling this with a sigh <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Somewhere ages and ages hence: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I took the one less traveled by, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #e300ff; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> And that has made all the difference.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #3a6822; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In "The Road Not Taken" and "Out of Habit" it talks about making choices. In both poems it doesn't specify which choice is the best. It basically just talks about which choice the protagonist makes. I really like both poems because none of them are forcing any decision on you. In "Out of Habit" the protagonist decides to hurt her husband by asking for divorce but at the same time she could also be doing this for his good as it might hurt him more if he finds out later that she is cheating on him. In "The Road Not Taken" the poet is making a choice between two roads, and finally choosing the one less taken. Comparing this to the other poem, in "Out of Habit" you could say that the woman chooses the road "more taken" because nowadays a lot of people decide to divorce or seperate instead of trying to solve their problems, which I suppose can sometimes be impossible.

Comparing the two ways the poems are written, I think I like the way "Out of Habit" is written more. To me, it seems as though "Out of Habit" is written in a more blunt way which creates a lot of imagery. Meanwhile, "The Road Not Taken" has been written in a more imaginative way which makes me think a lot more about the "hidden" meaning although it also creates a lot of imagery to me. In "The Road Not Taken" there is a lot of rhyme and rhythm, the pattern being ABAAB. In "Out of Habit" I think the poet's main tool used is imagery as every line creates a vivid picyure in your head. There are also some similes and metaphors in the poem as well. Basically, I think that even though the poems are very different and talk about different scenarios, they are very much similar because both of them talk about making the right choice according to the respective protagonists. If I had to choose, I would probably say that I like "Out of Habit" better as it creates an amazing picture for me though "The Road Not Taken" has already made a place in the hearts of poem-lovers for ages.