Reflection on The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

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Recommended: Summarizing The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost poem

Perhaps one of the most well-known poems in modern America is a work by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. This poem consists of four stanzas that depict the story of the narrator traveling through the woods early in the morning and coming upon a fork in the path, where he milled about for a while before deciding upon one of the two paths, wishing he could take both, but knowing otherwise, seeing himself telling of this experience in the future.

Frost uses several literary devices in this brief account, such as imagery, personification, metaphor, and alliteration. Descriptions of “yellow wood,” depicting an autumn forest, and “no step [in the leaves being] trodden black,” indicating a fresh and natural recently untrodden environment, are included to create a picture in the reader’s mind and make the situation ore real and easily related to. It is possible that Frost may have purposely used the word “yellow” to imply the splitting paths. ("Cummings Study Guides") When describing the two paths, the narrator mentions that one “was grassy and wanted wear,” using personification to make it seem as if that path is calling to him to travel upon it. In the same phrase, Frost also makes use of alliteration to draw attention to the calling of the first path. ("Use of Literary Devices in Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken")

The overarching theme throughout the entire poem is that of choices. The concept of “two roads diverged,” or a split in the road, is a metaphor representing a choice which the narrator must make. Being “sorry [he] could not travel both… [being] one traveler” illustrates that, although he wishes he could see the results of both choices, as seen in saying he “looked as far as [he] could to where it bent,” he is but one pers...

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.... Mountain Interval." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Bartleby.com. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. .

"The Road Not Taken: a Study Guide." Cummings Study Guides. Michael Cummings, n.d. Web. 3 Apr 2011. .

"The Road Not Taken Theme of Exploration." Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources. Shmoop University, Inc. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. .

"The Road Not Taken Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans." Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources. Shmoop University, Inc. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. .

"Use of Literary Devices in Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken." 123HelpMe.com. 03 Apr 2011 .

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