Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Summarizing The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost poem
Summarizing The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost poem
Explanation of "the road not taken
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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...
... middle of paper ...
.... 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 .
Word press. N.p. 12 Apr 2013. Web. 17 Mar 2014 Cummings, Michael J. “‘A Worn Path’ study guide.”
Welty, Eudora. "A Worn Path." Custom Literature Reader: ENC 1102. Eds. C.J. Baker, Roberta Sampere, and Christine
Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” pulls the reader into the world of the protagonist, Phoenix Jackson, as she made her regular trip into the city of Natchez, Mississippi to pick up medicine for her grandson. Throughout Phoenix’s trip through the pinewoods, she encounters natural obstacles. Welty characterization of Phoenix and her use of symbolism and imagery give the reader in-depth descriptions into the obstacles that Phoenix faced. It is a story about perseverance, social class, love and all of life’s challenges.
The Road Not Taken takes place in the morning of an autumn day in a forest. A young man comes up on a fork in the road. He has to make a decision on which path to take. One seems to be a heavily traversed road, whereas the other appears to be hidden in grass and altogether less traveled. Basically, Frost has set
In analyzing and comparing symbolism, form, and style of the literary work “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and the short story of “A Worn Path” by Eudora, Welty I ask so what is the symbolic discovery that gives the reader new ideas, connecting experiences, considering deeper insights, and coming to conclusions with harmonious delight? Although we all have ‘roads’ or ‘paths’ to take on our journey in life it is in how we handle the experience; and what we gain from those life journeys that will either enrich our life or be our demise. I intend to show that detail in the short story gives us a more precise imagery giving a lead to our imagination than that of the poem. The Symbolism in both brings to light a positive message each in its own rhythm and to each individual reader a metaphor and food for life.
The central image that Frost presents, which is the path, provides a clear picture that the reader can focus on in order to reveal something about the poem. The “two roads diverged in a yellow wood'; vividly portray the fact that it is always difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the opportunity that will be missed out on. There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is even made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down every path that one encounters. In an attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I could." The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much as he may strain his eyes to see how far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where it is going to lead. It is the path that he chooses that sets him off on his journey and determines where he is going and what he will encounter.
The Road Not Taken is a poem about decisions in life and how each one
The ambiguity which dominates the poem seems to be intentional. The only certainty in the poem is that it deals with a solitary traveler who has come to a fork in the road and must choose which way to go.
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 689. Print.
At the end of the poem, the regret hangs over the travelers’ head. He realizes that at the end of his life, “somewhere ages and ages hence” (line 17), He will have regrets about having never gone back and traveling down the road he did not take. Yet he remains proud of his decision, and he recognizes that it was this path that he chose that made him turn out the way he did. “I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference” (line 19-20). To this man, what really made the difference is that he did what he wanted, even if it meant taking the road less traveled.
“The Road Not Taken” examines the struggles people run into when they come to a place in their life where a life altering decisions has to be made. The man who is described in this poem is traveling when he comes upon “two roads diverged” (1). He then has to choose which path he will take to continue on his journey. After standing at the diversion for a while, he knows he has to make a final decision. One path was worn down and “bent in the undergrowth” (5), so he took the other path, which was described as “perhaps the better claim/ Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (6-7). The man of the poem begins to ponder about a time when he will be telling his story of the path he took. Although we are not sure if the man regrets his decision or is relieved, he lets us know taking the road less traveled “has made all the difference” (20).
The Road Not Taken is a twenty-line poem written in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme ABAAB. This poem starts with the author walking through the woods. He comes to a fork in the path and is torn by which path to take...does he take the path that is traveled by everybody, or the one rarely traveled upon? He decides to take the road less traveled by. By taking this path he changes his life in some way unknown to the reader.
In analyzing the poem 'The Road Not Taken'; by Robert Frost, it represents 'the classic choice of a moment and a lifetime.';(pg 129) He relies much on the reflections of nature to convey his theme. However, this poem seems to be in essence very simple but
¡°The Road Not Taken¡± by Robert Frost is s poem of description as he was revealing what he experienced when he had to make a decision. The physical journey Robert Frost described in his poem was there were two different ways for him to choose where they would both end to the same place.
In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, author Robert Frost uses the simple image of a road to represent a person’s journey through life. A well-established poet, Frost does a proficient job of transforming a seemingly common road to one of great importance, which along the way helps one identify who they really are. This poem is one of self-discovery. Frost incorporates strong elements of poetry such as theme, symbolism, rhyme scheme, diction, imagery, and tone to help create one of his most well known pieces about the human experience.