Analysis of The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

In the Robert Frost poem ‘’The Road Not Taken’’ there is a pervasive and in many ways intrinsic sense of journey throughout. In such, the poem explores an aspect associated with human decision, or indecision, relative to the oxymoron, that choices with the least the difference should bear the most indifference, but realistically, carry the most difficulty. This is conveyed through the use of several pivotal techniques. Where the first such instance is the use of an extended metaphor, where the poem as a whole becomes a literary embodiment of something more, the journey of life. The second technique used is the writing style of first person. Where in using this, the reader can depict a clear train of thought from the walker and understand why and how he made the choice he made, and the ramifications of such. Lastly, we can depict a clear repetition of indecision throughout the first three stanzas, indecision that ultimately proves to be fruitless and subsequently telling us more than the arrival at a clear decision ever could.

Firstly, we have the extended metaphor, which is ascertained by many to be relative to the ‘’journey’’ of one’s life and the choices we make. The idea and subsequent meaning from the metaphor extends the application of it from the difficulty of one singular choice, but can be construed as a lifetime and how choices committed throughout can never be taken back. While also delving into a sense of regret and a loss of a human characteristic ‘’the want to know’’ what would or could have happened if the other path or choice was taken. This is shown in the line ‘’sorry I could not travel both’’ which indicates the aforementioned regret whilst also explaining the immediate response of the traveller. The use of t...

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...oem ‘’The Road Not Taken’’ is a clear depiction of the choices one is forced to make throughout the ‘’journey’’ of one’s life. In doing so, it also levies to point that only one choice at any time can be realistically made, and the inherent regret that comes with such a fact. It adheres to the logical conclusion that people can never take back their actions, only learn to live with them. In many instances, this poem is a journey into the human psyche in relation to a human assumption, that we can control anything. Indeed it is because of this, that we convince ourselves if the choices are sufficiently different, that we made the right one. However with this hypothesis, it shows our greatest inadequacy, when faced with two choices that are equal we have no such self-delusion, we can never be sure. Meaning, the choices with no difference are the most difficult.