The Road Not Taken, By Robert Frost

When I am doing a compare and contrast for a short story or a poem, I believe that you have to consider the greater meaning of the short story and the poem as well as the comparing and contrasting of them. In every short story and poems there are greater meanings to the literature work that the writer wants his readers to understand when it comes to their written work, a symbolism that allows the author to bring their own words to life. The authors of these types of literature writings are able to take their readers on a journey with their writings. The symbolism in a short story or a poem can be deciphered differently by each reader.

But yet, we do know that the symbolism of the literary work is created in the thoughts of the writer to describe

The person in the poem is a very conflicted person. The poem, “The Road Not Taken”, the man in the poem doesn't tell us too much about himself, but we know that he is facing a significant decision. The road he's walking on, and the life he's leading, is splitting into two separate roads up ahead. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both”. (Clugston, 2014) The symbolism for the yellow wood would indicate that it is the beginning of fall, if the woods are a metaphor for the speaker's life. It could mean to describe the two roads as aging or decay. This may possibly be interrupted that the character is middle aged, maybe he is in his forties or fifties. The second line points out his desire to be able to choose both paths. But, in this stage of his life, he could be going through a difficult time in his life right now and he is being forced to decide what to do. He also knows that it's most likely too late to go back and change his mind after he makes this decision. The decision he's up against could be something like changing careers or he could just be having the typical mid-life crisis one has in their mid-forties or early fifties, or it could be that he is unsure if he likes where his life is going. Whatever the decision is, it must be a huge decision, because he knows that he'll still be talking about it far in the future, saying that

(Clugston, 2014) The man is alone, and is taking is time deciding on what road he wants to take. This is another symbolization, in which he needs to make the right decision and the fact that he does not want to be impulsive and pick the wrong path. Frost has the man looking down the roads and evaluating his options, because both road look tempting and he needs to decide which path is the right decision for