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You Can Not Go Back: Poems About Embracing Change

Herman Mitchell

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Published in You Can (Not) Go Back: Poems About Change

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Change is an inevitable part of life. It can be scary, exciting, or both. But one thing is for sure: we can't go back. We can only move forward. These poems about change explore the different emotions that come with it, and how we can learn to embrace it.

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

You Can (Not) Go Back: Poems About Change

by Juan Elmartinez

5 out of 5

Language	:	English
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Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

This poem is about the choices we make in life. The speaker comes to a fork in the road and must decide which way to go. He chooses the road less traveled, and this decision has a profound impact on his life.

The poem teaches us that we can't go back and change the choices we've made. But we can learn from our mistakes and make better choices in the future.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

This poem is about the speaker's decision to leave the woods and continue on his journey. He knows that the woods are beautiful, but he also knows that he has obligations that he must fulfill.

The poem teaches us that we can't always stay in one place. Sometimes, we have to move on and face new challenges.

"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thine happiness,— That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, In some melodious plot

Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth, Tasting of Flora and the country green, Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!

O, for a beaker full of the warm South, Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene, With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, And purple-stained mouth;

That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget What thou among the leaves hast never known, The weariness, the fever, and the fret Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;

Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs, Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies; Where but to think is to be full of sorrow And leaden-eyed despairs,

Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.

This poem is about the speaker's desire to escape from the world and live in the forest with the nightingale. He believes that the nightingale is happy and free, and he wants to experience that same happiness.

The poem teaches us that we can't always escape from our problems. But we can find solace in nature and in the beauty of the world around us.

"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray, Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

This poem is about the speaker's father, who is dying. The speaker urges his father to fight against death and to live as fully as he can until the end.

The poem teaches us that we should not give up on life, even when things are difficult. We should fight against the dying of the light and live our lives to the fullest.

If you are facing change, know that you are not alone. Many people have been in your shoes before. And many have come out the other side stronger and wiser.

Embrace the change that is coming. Learn from it. Grow from it. And never stop moving forward.

You Can (Not) Go Back: Poems About Change

by Juan Elmartinez

5 out of 5