In the poem, “The Road Not Taken”, the author Robert Frost employs several different types of poetic methods throughout his poem. Such methods as symbolism, imaginary, connotation, and tone are uniquely utilized to express the overall theme of the poem. These methods make this poem emotional and complex. In addition, the author is actually focusing on himself. The title “The Road Not Taken” is emphasizing the word “Not” more so than the other words. The author is probably focusing on the road or path that he did not take. In addition, the poem consists of four stanzas with exactly five lines in each stanza with an iambic pentameter base. The musical device used is alliteration and the rhymes are masculine. Symbolism plays a crucial part in illustrating the theme of Frost’s poem. After evaluating the poem, I believe that the theme of "The Road Not Taken" is not entirely about an actual road, but is for the most part about the choices we make in our lives or in this instance the choice the speaker made by choosing one road over the other. Whether these choices are good or bad, they are nevertheless the choices we make in life. Therefore, the two roads symbolize the choices we make in life. “The Road Not Taken” literal scene and situation is that the traveler is walking in the woods or “yellow wood” (1) which symbolizes nature. In addition, the literal scene is that while the traveler is walking in the woods, when he comes upon “two roads diverged” (1) which could literary mean a fork in the road or crossroads. The situation in which the poem is essentially illustrating is how the traveler felt when he came upon the two roads. In some respect, it seems that the traveler is no doubt regretful that he was not able to e... ... middle of paper ... ...how he did not take the other road but took “the one less traveled by” (19) which in his opinion “made all the difference” (20). The connotation of the word “difference” in the last stanza could mean that it was a good decision or that it was a bad decision. The reader has the option of choosing either regret or relief. In conclusion, the poem reflects on the choices we make in life. As Christians, we know that we have free will but we also know that with that free will comes the responsibility to make the right decisions. When we come to a situation that could have either a good or a bad outcome, we should always choose the right choice o path because the choices we make in life can have good or bad consequences. Works Cited Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Perrine’s Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense, 10th edition (2009): 725. Print.
Poetry is a form of art in which an exclusive arrangement and choice of words help bring about a desired emotional effect. Robert Frost said that a poem is formed when “an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” His popular poem, "The Road Not Taken," like any other poem, has as many interpretations as it has readers. Using rhetorical analysis, one can break down the meaning(s) of this seemingly simple poem.
The narrator of the poem writes that in the end he takes “the one less traveled by” (line 19). This is in contradiction to what was written in the poem previously. Previously the narrator has said that in regards to the two roads “the passing there / had worn them really about the same,” (lines 9-10). This indicates that not one path or the other had been travelled on more or less as the roads are equally worn. The narrator also states that the roads “equally lay / in leaves” (lines 11-12). This again suggests that neither road is taken more than the other and that the title of the poem cannot refer to the road most people decide not to
At first the traveler believes that this second path must be a better choice, which he says in line seven by stating that it may have a “better claim”. When the speaker says he “took the other, just as fair,” it is a simile comparing the ways he observed both paths to be the same. “Because it was grassy and wanted wear,”(8) is an example of personification by the traveler, saying that the second path “wanted wear”, or wanted to be taken. In the end, the traveler realizes that the choices are both equivalent in a way that will lead to a final outcome. Then the traveler decides in the third stanza that he will take path two, or decides to make the second choice.
“Oh, I kept the first for another day!” Despite this wish he realizes he can never come back and take the untaken path because his choice will lead him in a different direction. He knows that “way leads on to way.” Realistically he doubts if he will ever come back because it is impossible to return to that place and make the same choice under similar circumstances because the original choice will have changed his life
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 first stanza introduced the reader to the decision the author would have to make. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" to me signified that the result of his decision would arise from the same origin to which in my own life, I can reflect on. And though he would like to have seen the outcome of both paths, he knew he could only choose one. And to help him decide, he would look down both choices and see only until the road took a bend.
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.
The poem relates to the many different decisions a person makes in their daily life. In the poem, people start from the same place in the beginning it just depends on the road we choose as to where we are going to end up because everyone doesn’t follow the same path. The traveler chose the road least people by travel and he tells the reader that choosing the easiest choice in your life is not always the easiest option but it might be the best. Throughout the poem, you
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler” (Page 756 Stanza 1). This is the beginning of an iambic tetrameter by Robert Frost in which he expresses the thoughts of the speaker as they come to a fork in the road. The speaker faces a dilemma of deciding which path to take. Frost uses a closed form with a rhyme scheme of “ABAAB.” The speaker reaching the fork in the road is symbolism for a particular decision that he must make in life. The first stanza is setting up the situation in which the speaker must observe both choices and make a decision and stick with it. This poem allows the reader to use their imagination and is also relatable in everyone’s everyday lives. In “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost uses a good rhyme scheme, description, and symbolism to describe an important life decision as well as show the thoughts of the speaker as he makes this decision.
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
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. .
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...
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...