Good vs. Bad

A detailed Summary of Good vs. Bad

Why doesn't life let us explore the world? Do we have to follow the same path as the majority? The world is actually not that of a bad place to live in. If the world isn't that bad of a place, than why are we are restricted in going places. I am not talking about places that are private property; instead I am talking about places that we are not going because we are plainly scared, the reason is fear. As someone once said, "We fear the thing we most want." I wonder if this is any true; are we really scared of things we want or are the things we want that horrible that we don't want them? Well, these types of questions are portrayed in three poems. The first two poems are by Gwendolyn Brooks, they are "A Song in the Front yard" and "The Bean Eater," and the other one is Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken."

"A Song in the Front Yard" starts off with someone who wants to see what the "back yard" is like. I believe the narrator is a girl has been a "good" person, but now she wants to go to the "back yard" and experience the rough side of life. From the first and second line, "I've stayed in the front yard all my life. I want a peek at the back..." I perceive the "front yard" as being a place whe

"The Bean Eaters" is a poem that is a little different from the other Gwendolyn Brooks poem, "A Song in the Front Yard." "The Bean Eaters" is about an old couple that is living their daily, and usual lives. The first line from the poem, "They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair," tells us that this poem is about an old couple who are living a monotonous life. Their life is showed by the kind of food they eat, which is mostly beans. Also by the kind of utensils they use when eating dinner. From the second line, "Dinner is a casual affair," we can assume that their dinner is simple and just dull. The couple mostly eats beans and uses plain tableware such as "tin flatware" when eating dinner. I see them as an old couple trying to just live their lives by getting up each morning and just taking it slow day by day. I think the tenth line, "Remembering, with twinklings, and twinges," takes us back to the pain the couple had suffered in the past. That pain reminds them of many other things such as beads, receipts, dolls, clothes, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes. Therefore, I believe the cause of their pain and the person these items belong to is the couple's missing child.

"... was grassy and wanted wear," tells us that since very few take this path, that even the grass has started to grow back on it, on the other hand, I am sure the "good" has very little or no grass growing on it.

In addition, the ninth and twelfth line states, "They do some wonderful things" and "How they don't have to go in at quarter to nine," explains that the girl is bothered by the other children getting to stay later than her. She feels alone and angry because the others are out in the "back yard" and she isn't. Moreover, when she does out to play in the "front yard," she has a curfew and has to come home early, whereas the children in "back yard" don't have to go home as early as she does and are in the "back yard." I think she wants to have something related with the children in the "back yard," or even be like them, and I believe this is another reason for her to go back there. The mother tries to tell the girl that the children in the "back yard" will grow up and become bad people or even end up in jail. Nevertheless, the girl doesn't care because she is so in need to have something similar to the other children that she wants to take that risk. She doesn't even mind if she grows up and becomes a bad person or even does go to jail, but as long as she gets to go the "back yard" and have some fun. The girl is willing to give up anything and become anything, but only if she gets to go to the "back yard".

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" takes a different approach to the same kind of idea as the Gwendolyn Brooks' poems. The poem starts off with the first line stating, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," meaning there are two roads that are splitting apart and then going their different ways, or maybe even opposite ways. I think the two roads represent the two roads of life, one being the "good" road and the other being the "bad" one. Everyone likes to travel on the "good" road because it takes to your destination without or little hassles. The "good" road is the one that gets more worn out than the other one. Where as, the "bad" road gets very little used up because no one likes to travel on that road as mu

Some common words found in the essay are:
Front Yard, Bean Eaters, Gwendolyn Brooks', York City, , front yard, bad road, Song Front, Frost's Road, song front, Gwendolyn Brooks, song front yard, yard road, children yard, taking bad, bean eaters, yard bad, couple living, taking bad road, Robert Frost's, staying front yard, likes travel road, staying front, bad road yard,

Approximate Word count = 2252
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English