The Gift Outright

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1916)

Unlike “The Gift Outright,” Frost’s well-known poem “The Road Not Taken” features a specific “I.” While the people in “The Gift Outright” surrender themselves to America, the speaker in “The Road Not Taken” preserves their agency and makes a choice about the path they should take. As with “The Gift Outright,” the poem has an enigmatic, grim feel—it’s not clear why Frost’s speaker took the “road less traveled by” (Line 15) or why that decision “made all the difference” (Line 16).

“Tired” by Langston Hughes (1931)

Frost’s poem doesn’t present a conspicuously positive America, and neither does “Tired”—a lyric by the famous Black American poet Langston Hughes. While Frost arguably references the violent past of the United States in parentheses in Line 13, Hughes directly calls out inequities when his speaker prompts the reader to “cut the world in two— /And see what worms are eating / At the rind” (Lines 6-8). As with Frost, Hughes uses plural pronouns (“us”), assuming the audience identifies with the speaker.

“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman (2021)

Amanda Gorman recited “The Hill We Climb” for the inauguration of Joseph Biden in 2021.