Preview

Road Not Taken

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
763 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Road Not Taken
The Road Never To Be Known While Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken,” can be read at face value, when analyzed at a deeper level, underlying themes appear just below the surface of this seemingly playful piece. He is so nonchalant that it takes keen perception to find the theme within his words. He states, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” but, he is not talking simply about roads; they are metaphoric for choices one must make during life. In this poem, Frost utilizes tactics such as the title, symbolism, allegory, rhyme, and rhythm to convey his message. Frost writes to express his outlook upon physical decisions that ultimately dictate the inner emotions in the extent of one’s life.

Robert Frost blithely speaks of his
…show more content…
He also utilizes meter by composing four stanzas of five lines each. Each stanza is formed using meter with matching end rhyme adhering to ABAAB form. This works to Frost’s advantage and was an obvious predetermined format for the reader’s ease. With these tactics, Frost incorporates a musical flow to his words, making the reader feel comfortable while serious issues loom within.

The first line of the poem ends with the symbol of a “yellow wood.” This gives feelings of seasonal change as trees turn yellow in autumn. Frost utilized allegory within the setting of change, the predicament of choice, and in order to give everything he writes deeper meaning. Frost looks down one path to see the outcome, but it bends into the undergrowth; meaning one cannot always choose knowing the consequences of their choice but tries his best option.
Frost also personifies the path as, “wanting wear” like he was pulled to choose based upon initial appearance. He admits the paths, “Had worn really about the same.” Frost was conveying that one should not be fooled by first impressions when deciding something and things are not always what they initially seem. Also, one will realize the consequence of his choice only after it is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Frost uses the images presented in the poem in a very involved and general way. The paths and the fork no longer refer to their definitions, but instead as keywords in a description of life. Through the poem, Frost is defining life as a series of decisions. Some of these decisions may, at the time, be thought of as insignificant, while others could be thought of as very significant. Frost argues that a decision's significance at the time is not really important, for any choice will change one's life. Every day, people, including the narrator of the poem, are presented with "Two roads" that diverge "in a yellow wood." These roads are not concrete or physical, but rather represent choices. The fact that one road is "grassy and wanted wear" while the other was commonly traversed shows the reader that some choices require one to choose something that is not commonly sought or to do something…

    • 1092 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap English Speech Essay

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This is evident in The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost where a metaphor of a road is used assiduously throughout this poem to establish the way of life the persona has traveled. Colour imagery through “yellow wood” establishes not only a physical change i.e. change in season, but also a change in the realm of the mind. The persona’s justification of choice is evident through the simile “then took the other, as just as fair” This decision is then contemplated, where the imagination explores the consequences of some choices. Have you ever looked back and felt some regret? The line “I shall be telling this with a sigh” depicts this reflection and possible regret by use of emotive language. The value of this reflection process through the imaginative journey is clear in the last line “and this has made all the…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frost achieves his purpose of creating a poem which “begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” His use of metaphors, soft alliterations and biblical allusions illuminate the idea that everything beautiful eventually fades…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frost uses the terza rima in iambic pentameter that consists of the first stanza being ABA, the second with BCB, the third CDC, and the last two line are in the DD rhyme scheme. As I read “Acquainted with the Night” I realized that for the first stanza each three lines start with the words “I have,” the second stanza then only uses the first two lines with “I have,” the third drops another and uses one and then the fourth stanza completely got rid of it. This could be symbolic to the speaker as he’s losing a little part of himself as he goes along.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are several likenesses and differences in these poems. They each have their own meaning; each represent a separate thing and each tell a different story. However, they are all indicative of Frost’s love of the outdoors, his true enjoyment of nature and his wistfulness at growing old. He seems to look back at youth with a sad longing.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frost first introduces the primary symbol of the poem in the first line; “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both.” If interpreted literally the poem is that of a man at a separation of paths in a yellow wood. The symbolism in the poem, however, involves the use of both roads as symbols of the choices made in the speaker’s life and the consequences of making those choices. In addition to the two roads symbolizing a crossing in the speaker’s life, there is a sense of regret in the speaker’s words. “And sorry I could not travel both.” Even though the speaker after much examination of both paths eventually makes a decision about which path he will choose to take, he also establishes that the decision, whether made irrationally or thought long and hard about, will change the speaker’s life in unpredictable ways. Without this symbolism represented by the fork in the road, this poem would have no choice but to be taken literally and would lose the recondite meaning behind the two paths diverged in a yellow…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Road Not Taken Tone

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The speaker makes these connotations based on his word choice. In the beginning of the poem he mentions how he was “sorry I could not travel both” (2). He wishes he could have traveled both roads, not that he was just certain he wanted to travel one over the other. He regrets the fact he could not travel both. Even after making a choice he “kept the first for another day! / Yet knowing how way leads to way, / I doubted if should ever come back” (13-15). The speaker still is uncertain and wants to travel the other road. He is worried that by not taking the other road he has encountered missed opportunities. Later, he “shall be telling this with a sigh” that he is proud of his decision. However, with the use of the sigh it is apparent that the speaker is regretful of his decision. Throughout the poem, Frost portrays a regretful tone to show the distress and uncertainty the speaker is facing in making this…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Frost Tone

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Robert Frost wrote many magnificent works of poetry within his lifetime. Two of his poems that were written within seven years of each other, “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, have such remarkable comparisons within each other. Frost plays on many aspects within each, while still keeping consistency of themes such as life, nature, and the emotions of the narrator and how they affect their lives and choices. With the undertone of life being a key component, one speaks of a choice to make and how it can affect the life from that moment forward, the other hints at a life lived and reflection.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Road Not Taken Metaphors

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Poem, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, is a very deep and moving story about the struggle of choices made in everyday life. Frost is figuratively stating in the poem that choices about a person’s future are usually very difficult to make and the outcomes will always be a mystery. Frost uses a good deal of poetic devices within this piece but theme and metaphor help give the story a better image for the reader.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Frost Depression

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The poem tells of a man who is walking somewhere with his horse one night, and stops to ponder the sight of the woods for some time. Then, he is reminded of his duties, and continues on his way. The man in this poem is depressed, much like the man in "Dust of Snow". When he looks into the woods, it serves as a metaphor for the man contemplating his own suicide. Frost describes the woods as "lovely, dark and deep". This description makes the woods seem very appealing, to the point where one would want to step into the them and walk through them. Frost is likening these woods to embracing one's depression and committing suicide. This is because the thought of ending one's life might seem appealing to one stricken with deep depression. But, the man does not embrace his depression. Instead, he carries on and continues with his life, saying to himself, twice, that he has "miles to go before [he] sleeps". The repetition in this line seems to be a mantra for the man, which he repeats in order to convince himself that he must go through with his life. But what ultimately brings this man out of his depressed state? It is the "promises" mentioned in line 10, which the man feels he needs to uphold. So, it is society and other people who save the…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This shows the audience that no matter how personalized and individualistic their choices and ideas are, they can use them to inspire others to come out of their own shells to make the less popular choice that will only enhance their unique character. Everyone's future looks different, but they all start off in a similar way; by making choices. Frost changes from past tense to future tense in the last stanza. Thus developing a glad, nostalgic tone, showing that he assumes he will be happy of his choice - the road less travelled - when he reflects on it later in…

    • 1641 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Frost analyses the concept of journeys in his poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, using allegory as a technique to convey a message of an inner and emotional journey. These journeys are concealed by a physical journey which Frost writes of; one of choosing between two roads in the woods during autumn. Robert Frost explores the difficulty involved in choosing between two ‘roads’ – one of which he must take in order to continue on the journey of life. In ‘The Road Not Taken’, he also discusses his emotions after he had chosen and set out on a path, which ultimately leads to him proclaiming that he has no regrets. Frost successfully conveys all this through the use of vivid imagery, metaphors, and a build-up of the personae judging on his use of language as well as capturing the mental processes of the character.…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We come to life changing trials in our life, some may be a path that we are glad we did while others wished that we can go back and choose the other because of a negative result. In the poem written by Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”, shows us that making a decision is not always easy. In the…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As noted above, Frost uses many techniques to explain the significant of the poem. The most important aspect of the poem is the extended metaphor of the…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Road Not Taken

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cited: Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." Poetry Foundation. N.p.. Web. 17 Aug 2013. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536>.…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics