The following question asks about one or more selections from your textbook Literature. You may use your textbook to answer this question. Both "The Road Not Taken" and "O Captain! My Captain!" are analogies. Write a paragraph comparing the authors' use of analogy. What is analogy? How does Frost use analogy in his poem? How does Whitman use analogy in his poem? Why has each of these analogy poems become so famous?

An analogy in literature is a figure of speech where two things are being compared. Both Frost and Whitman's poems compare two things so that the reader may understand something on a deeper level. A reader can interpret both poems on a literal level and also on a metaphoric level, meaning that s/he will have to look deeper into possible meanings to have a more understanding. Both poems "work" on both a literal and metaphoric level and are equally beautiful and poignant either way, which is probably a big reason why they have become and stayed so popular and why they became so famous in the first place.

In Frost's poem, two roads are compared. On a literal level the traveler has to choose between two paths as he is walking. One of the paths is well-word and often chosen. The other road is less-traveled and, "wanted wear". He says to himself that he cannot travel both so he saves one path for another day. Literally, he chooses one of the roads in front of him. On a metaphoric level, though, this poem can be interpreted to mean the traveler choosing a "path of life" which is not actually something that one can see, but something that one chooses through the decisions that he makes. In the comparison in the poem, as the road comes to an end, the traveler reflects that taking the less-traveled path has made all the difference. Here the reader is meant to understand the metaphor: that choosing a life path that isn't what the majority of people choose or the 'less-traveled' path is a choice that will make one happier in the end.

In Whitman's poem, the beloved Captain of a ship has died and his crew mates mourn his passing. On a literal level the poem can be read to understand the sorrow and despair a crew would feel if their leader died before they reached the safety of land. One can easily understand that the leader of a ship is the most important role, and a beloved leader is not easily replaced. The poem leaves the reader feeling uneasy about what the crew must be feeling. On a metaphoric level, the captain of the ship is meant to represent Abraham Lincoln and his assassination. As a beloved leader and one who was instrumental in wanting to end hostilities between the North and South after the Civil War, his premature death prior to the end of his term and in the middle of discussions about what would happen to the Southern states left citizens mourning and uneasy about what would happen in the future as the ship of the Unite States recovered from war.

In both of the poems the authors successfully use metaphor to make analogies for their readers. In one we see a literal road and the road of life and in the other the ship of a dead captain and the ship of the United States.