No Road Taken Perhaps one of the most famous pieces of American poetry, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost can be quoted by any who has read it. At least, the first and last lines. Dispensing with the middle, the poem is then used as caution, encouragement, or counsel to young and old about picking their paths in life. This is a fair sentiment, and probably not one the author would find much fault in the reader for interpreting. After all, this poem seems to speak to the familiar human soul of longing, personal choice, and consequences. Yet, upon closer inspection of the text, the two roads in question are described as being identical in appearance, and are esteemed as matching in value as well. Looking down one path and then “the other, as just as fair” (6), the speaker observes that “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same” (9-10). Both beckon the speaker down their verdant lanes, between which he must inevitably decide. It’s certainly not an easy choice, as the speaker laments, “And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler” (2-3). Indeed, the speaker deems them both appealing, as they “both that morning equally lay / In leaves no …show more content…
Frost hints that it has an impact when he writes, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back” (14-15). But there’s no change of setting or imagery to show how the journey went. In fact, by the final line of the poem, it’s unclear whether either of the roads has been taken at all. If there were no fellow travelers, surely the speaker couldn’t have taken “the one less traveled by” (19). He was the only one to have traveled the identical roads, thereby making whichever one he traveled the more worn of the two. His proclamation that such “has made all the difference” (20), becomes ironic in light of the lack of distinction between the paths, and the contradiction that he took one less traversed than the
Robert Frost masterfully uses straightforward diction and a metaphor in his poem “The Road Not Taken” to portray a speaker who is struggling to make a life changing decision, encouraging both the speaker and the readers towards introspection. Frost dramatizes the internal conflict and consequences involved in making an important decision; an experience all humans face many times in their lives. There will always be times in life when a decision that defines destiny and alters the course, must ultimately be decided. By creating a natural atmosphere, the entire poem emphasizes a metaphor in which a person’s journey through life is compared to a journey on a road. The speaker of the poem is forced to choose one path instead of another, knowing
The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost has a literal meaning from the speaker, or traveler, of the road he did not take, but the deeper meaning certainly shows how decisions alter your life. Notably, sorrow and regret is the tone of this poem, demonstrated in the very first stanza: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; (1-5) The poem takes place in autumn, when a traveler, who is narrating the poem, walks upon two paths in the yellow wood. The speaker says he is “sorry I could not travel both”, meaning that he feels sorrowful about not being able to take both roads.
The persona begins to think about how he cannot take both paths and be the same “traveler”
I could not travel both" what opportunities will be missed? That is why it is difficult to make a decision. You can't travel down every path you want. It isn't possible to do everything. ",long I stood And looked down one as far as I could"
In the opening stanza, Frost describes coming to a point during a walk along a rural road that diverges into two separate, yet similar paths. The narrator finds that he ...
Robert Frost interpreted most of the decisions we make in life into this twenty-line poem of a man choosing which path to take in a "yellow wood". Everyday I make a decision to do a certain task, take that certain walk, or to sit at home and do absolutely nothing. Being one person, I can never know for sure what the exact outcome might be if I were to choose the other decision. For instance, I take a leisurely walk every night and I sacrifice my time to do something else. Although this may not always account to me personally, I do sometimes think what the other choice may have brought me. And often times, I complete the task with a sense of relief, a "sigh" perhaps, that the choice I made turned to be a well-made decision. Though most people rarely look into the sacrifice of decision making the way Robert Frost does, it is indeed a highly examined way too understand "a path less traveled by".
The two roads presented in this poem represent difficult decisions we are faced with in life. He uses the relationship between the paths and real life decisions throughout the whole poem. This is an example of extended metaphor, which is used to help the readers understand the analogy between the two. The man in the poem said: “long I stood” (3), which lets us know the decision was not made instantly. It was hard for the man to make a final judgment.
Above all, 'The Road Not Taken'; can truly be interpreted through much symbolism as a clear-sighted representation of two fair choices. The two roads in the poem, although, 'diverging,'; lead in different directions. At the beginning they appear to be somewhat similar, but is apparent that miles away they will grow farther and farther away from each other. Similar to many choices faced in life. It is impossible to foresee the consequences of most major decisions we make and it is often necessary to make these decisions based on a little more than examining which choice 'wanted wear.'; In
In the poem, a person is walking along a path in an autumn forest in the early hours of the morning, when he stumbles upon a fork in the road. The speaker wishes that he would be able to travel down both of them, but he has places to go, and he does not have enough time. One is worn out from people walking along it so much, and the other is grassy and barely worn from fewer people walking on it. Although neither of them had been traveled on that day, as the leaves were still fresh on the ground, the speaker was compelled to travel the second or grassier path. The speaker fin...
The main theme of the poem that Frost attempts to convey is how important the decisions that one makes can be, and how they affect one’s future. In lines 2-3, he expresses the emotions of doubt and confusion by saying, “And sorry I could not travel/ And be one traveler, long I stood”, which explains how the speaker contemplated their decision of which road to take. In the closing, line 20 of the poem further reestablishes the theme when it states, “that has made all the difference”, meaning that making the decision of which road to take for themselves is the important key for a successful future. Frost helps to express this theme by using symbolism to portray a road as one’s journey of life. Using symbolism, Frost suggests that the speaker of this poem is taking the harder of the two roads presented before them, because the road the speaker chooses, “leaves no step had trodden black” (12...
Wood, Kerry M. "Poetry Analysis: The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost - by Kerry Michael Wood - Helium." Helium - Where Knowledge Rules. 22 May 2008. Web. 03 May 2011. .
The first is the decision of a young man choosing a path of life that altered it forever, while the second is about an older more experienced man reluctantly continuing on in life even though he had stopped at the perfect spot. Both speakers have to make a decision that could in turn change their lives forever. In “The Road Not taken” the speaker makes the decision choosing the least common route, this shows how different and independent he is. While in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” the speaker has to resort back to his obligations, this shows his self discipline and
This poem is one of many written by Frost in 1916 and it is commonly used in high school writing classes. It has been written about frequently and often analyzed because of the connection people feel to the poem for the reason that everyone has to make life choices. The reading of the poem touches a wide variety of readers because each one can identify with the writers predicament of having to make a choice, with two different options, as in the poem which road to take either the well-traveled path or as he decides the less journeyed. As an outcome of this choice, the writer states, that his life was profoundly different than it would have been had he taken the other road. The other road the more traveled and seemingly the safer of the two makes the reader seem more fearless to except what the unknown has to offer thus making his own way in the world. In reading further the roads are almost the same both being beautiful and equally passable. The writer tries to explain why things happened the way they did and that is a significant moment in his life. One might pick the road that gets them to w...
...ng the road he eventually chose made him the person he is. In being forced to choose and face the consequences, he was afraid to make a wrong decision. He is better off for having even made any decision at all instead of standing there, procrastinating. Although one person cannot take all the roads in life, trying to choose everything will leave that person just as empty as choosing the wrong path.
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...