The Road Goes Ever On
by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
The more I read this, the more comparisons available to Frost's "Two Roads.." poem. Tolkien has my hypnotized more with his disappearing, reappearing path. So often it does feel like the path we are following laughs at us and hides under leaves and streams...but it is still the path we are to follow. It just needs more from us, needs us to adventure and trust and explore it. Maybe we write it as we go and the allure, like in the Allie poem, is that we follow the "call" not the road itself?
ReplyDeleteThe Road is a proper noun, like the Way.
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't the narrator have to follow the Road when it joins the other paths and errands?
Or is it a personal Destiny. "I must follow, if I can," must is a funny word. How much choice does the narrator have?
Your comments here are comments of thought! I have always enjoyed proper nouns in all poetry, but have not connected them here as you did. The Road, the Way...
ReplyDeleteWe like to think we have choice, that we "must" follow a path before us, but in reality we are like Alice...and we fall down the rabbit hole of life :) giving way to the falling and the following is another story....