Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot, and the Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost are two poems that imagine how life might be if the narrator had acted differently. However, the two poems are almost opposites in their intent and impact. Eliot's poem is a lamentation over a life not lived, over a failure to act. Frost's poem is a celebration over an unconventional life bravely and boldly. Whereas Eliot's narrator is in despair over his inability to do what he dreams of, Frost's narrator is an inspiration who, after having taken his journey of life, assures us that "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- / I took the one less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference."

Eliot's poem begins with the narrator suggesting a walk through the evening streets, apparently with the woman he loves. However, his despair and images of...
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