No Sense of Direction is mainly about the idea, that sometimes loosing your way can lead you on to better things. It is a laid-back poem and this can be seen through the layout. As the lines use a lot of enjambment with no verse structure it gives the impression that the traveller is very laid back about his journey. He does not mind what choices or paths he takes and therefore has laid the poem out to reflect this. Nevertheless, the poem still does make the reader work at understanding the underlying meanings. This can be seen in the use of irregular meters. It does not have the regular rhythm that a standard poem would have, it has probably been done to give the reader the feeling of confusion or how they would feel if they did not having a sense of direction.
These two poems use the verse structure in an obvious way. They use it to invoke a sense of unsettlement within the reader. However if we look at Goodbye, on the first look it seems to be a conventional poem. The poem is actually about the poet setting off for war and spending his last night with his love. It has the standard four lines on each verse. If we look closer at these lines, we can see that by using irregular syllables and an irregular rhythm it creates the same unsettling feeling when we read it. It gives us a sense of havoc, chaos and confusion, which is probably how the poet felt when he wrote it.
The rhythms of all three of these poems use a standard rhyming pattern. Therefore, although they do have their slight underlying differences to convey the secret meanings they still have the same poetic feel to them. They entice the reader to come and dissect the poems, as they look so easy to read on the first look.
When we take a look into each poem to unravel them, we find that the poets have left little clues throughout each of the poems to the true meanings, or the poet has given a single word that bring up an image within our mind as to where the poem sets its scene. A wonderful example of this is seen in The Road Not Taken. On the first line, he mentions the word yellow wood. Instantly we are drawn in to believe that the roads are set in a beautiful autumnal wood. The Road Not Taken is one of the easiest of the three poems to understand and one of the main reasons for this is the use of imagery. Because Robert Frost wants us to place ourselves within the poem and follow the same path as the traveller he uses a lot of imagery. Another example of this can be found further into the poem.
In leaves no step had trodden black
Again, we can image the paths as untouched and set in autumn. However, if we look at No Sense Of Direction and Goodbye the use of imagery is more subtle. In No Sense Of Direction Vernon Scannell describes the moon as derelict. The moon is something you would not normally associate with destruction but because it is used in conjunction with these lines:
Even in war
When thunders shake
Stars all desert
And the derelict moon
Goes over the hill
It gives us the sense that we are not in a normal setting. We get the feeling that we are in a war zone or destruction has reigned havoc upon the countryside. This has all been done to give the reader a feeling of being lost because it makes us think about the imagery being used.
In Goodbye there does not seem to be one particular word that gives the reader a particular image. Again, it uses the idea of a verse to give a sensation or image.
Everything we renounce except ourselves;
Selfishness is the last to go;
Our sighs are exhalations of the earth,
Our footprints leave a track across the snow
We know that this verse is referring to passion, closeness and the possibility of sex. There is not a particular word but the use of selfishness, sighs and exhalations all point towards this type of feeling or act.
One of the main things that is noticable throughout all three poems is the use of metaphores. Because of the layout of The Road Not Taken the metaphores are easier to see. Initially we look at the poem and see a physical journey. This is shown by the use of words like wood and undergrowth but if we look closer at the verses we can see that the traveller might have had a bit of regret about choosing the path that he did. This is seen in the last verse.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
There is also a hint that the traveller does things the different way
I took the one less travelled by,
Both of these verses show the underlying metaphores that there is a mental journey as well as a physical journey taken.
If we look at No Sense of Direction the metaphores are slightly harder to see but are still there. Again there is the idea of a physical path which is shown by the line
Over strange wooded ground,
Its gives us an image of walking in a wood and in an area that we do not know. Because it gives the reader an image of a path we know that this is the first layer of the poem. But if we read further on and anaylise the wording, we can see that the poet has used a few other meanings.
Who need no guide
Even in war
When thunders shake
The torn terrain
It is hard to imagine travelling in a place of war so the poet uses these lines to convey how people in war still know where they are going and what they are doing.
In contrast Goodbye does not use large metaphores, The poet again hints and suggests at small things.
Lay mummy clothes of silence round my head.
He obviously is not refering to the actual action of placing cloths around his head but is refering to keeping the images of war and death from his mind while he spends his last night with his love. Another good example of the poets use of small but powerful metaphores is seen in the fourth verse. Time’s chalice. This is a refrence to the image of youth. He is using this image to evoke a feeling that his time is going to end and this is the last time he will probably see his love.
In both No Sense Of Direction and the Road Not Taken the main themes running throughout both of the poems is the idea that journeys, however they are taken are hard and sometimes unconventional. No Sense of Direction centers on the idea that not knowing your direction wheather in a mental state or a physical state can sometimes bring the best results. The Road Not Taken looks at the unconventional journey and questions if this is the best way to lead our lives. Goodbye is a complete contrast to both poems as it does not seem to center on a particular journey wheather physical or mental, but it does center on the journey of a man in love, going off to war and his feelings of both. The poets have used the rythmn and meter in many different ways, but all three poems convey the feelings of the people within the poem. It’s a very clever way of engaging the reader into the poem and making us think of journeys or similar feelings we may have had ourselves.