The Road Not Taken. By Robert FrostTwo 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;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I..
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Listen to The Road Not Taken hereThe Analysis.
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem that seems simple and direct but actually has a two-fold meaning. Frost lures in the readers with a rhythmic poem that could have a figurative or literal meaning depending upon the reader's assessment. Literally, "The Road Not Taken" is about a traveler who is walking in the woods and has come upon two roads. The traveler cannot travel both roads and thus must make a decision which one to walk. He evaluates both roads and chooses the road less traveled realizing that he cannot back. The poem ends by the traveler stating that his choosing the road less traveled has made all the difference.
Figuratively, "The Road Not Taken" can be applied to a person's life. The traveler is a person who has two choices, which are represented in the poem by the two roads in the woods. The person takes the time to consider both choices and all sides to them by examining the paths. The traveler cannot come back to the other road and as in life if a choice is made, it is impossible to redo. The person must choose between the choices many make or the choice that few make.
I love this poem mainly because I can relate to the figurative side of the poem. Many of the choices I have made were the roads less traveled by others. For example, I am a girl majoring in an agricultural field that is considered by most to be a man's field. I also show cattle, which is dominated by men. Many believe that I do not belong in either and that I am not man enough to handle my cattle or the job I have chosen for my future career. I was also criticized in high school for being the smart kid and for not partying with the popular crowd. I do not regret my choices because they have affected my life greatly. I have met countless people involved in agricultural who have touched my life. I am also proud that I studied in high school because of all the opportunities that keeping good grades have brought me. So this poem appeals to me because I have chosen the road less traveled and that has made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken: Use of Literary Devices
"The Road Not Taken", written by Robert Frost, is a poem that has four five-line stanzas with only two end rhymes in each stanza (abaab). Several kinds of literary devices can be found in the poem. One of the literary devices employed is antithesis.
The first stanza of the poem describes a traveler who comes to a fork in a road through a "yellow wood" and wishes he could "travel both" routes, but at the same time he realizes that the thought of traveling both roads is impractical and therefore rejects it. In the second stanza, the traveler says the other road has "perhaps the better claim/because it was grassy and wanted wear," implying that this road is "less traveled by." And then he contradicts his own judgment by saying that "Though as for that the passing there/had worn them really about the same." In the third stanza, he comes up with the idea of saving the first, (perhaps) more traveled route for another day, but then he sees that he's most likely not going to return, and therefore, probably will never have the chance to travel the more traveled route in the future. The line "Because it was grassy and wanted wear, in the third stanza is an example of personification because the poet says that the road "wanted wear" while we all know that a road can not think and would not have any desire at all. The poet has also used imagery as a literary device: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" (from the first stanza), and "And both that morning equally lay/in leaves no step had trodden black" (from the third stanza) to create a picture in the reader's mind.
The literal meaning of the poem is that a traveler who came to a fork in a road in a yellow wood and couldn't decide on which road to take but finally chose to take the one that seemed less traveled by. The figurative theme of the poem is the crucial nature of the choices people must make on the road of life. The story took place in a yellow wood in the morning time. The tone of the poem is gloomy because the traveler laments the possibilities that the necessity of making a choice leaves unfulfilled, as we can see from the words used in the poem such as "sorry" and "sigh."
The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost is an enjoyable poem that is a metaphor for life. On a superficial level, this poem is about someone walking through the woods, coming to two possible ways to go, and then choosing one. The narrator chooses the one less traveled, and later says that they do not regret it. The underlying meaning of “The Road Not Taken” is that the narrator is using the woods and paths as a metaphor for the choices people have to make in life. That is the main theme of the poem. It is obvious from lines six to ten that the narrator took the path that was less traveled. In other words, the narrator did not follow the crowd, but instead made his own choice. The structure of the poem is that the narrator is talking about how he had two choices, chose one, and then later in his life looked back and realized he did not regret it. The poem is broken up by spaces, which shows the reader that time has passed, further illustrating the fact that the narrator is looking back at this particular choice in his life. It shows that time has passed because the speaker is talking in the past tense at the end of the poem. There are many poetic devices in “The Road Not Taken.” The first one that jumps out at the reader is the use of figurative language. Figurative language is language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. One knows this from reading the poem because the poem is meant to be read with the idea that it has an underlying meaning. It is not meant to be read as a story about a man walking in the woods and having to decide which trail he wants to take. Frost meant for the reader to read what is happening in the story and then to interpret the idea that it is a metaphor for life’s choices. Another poetic device Frost uses is imagery. Imagery is words or phrases that create pictures or images in the reader’s mind. Frost uses imagery when he describes the setting (the woods) to get the reader to see it in their mind. This is obvious from lines one to five when he is writing about the “two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” He describes the woods, but does it in a way that the reader will understand that the two roads symbolize two choices. Critics almost always agree about what the themes in “The Road Not Taken” are, but they are not as consistent in evaluating it as a poem and as a success. Some critics praise Frost’s poem. In an article published in South Atlantic Quarterly, John T. Ogilvie suggests that the road is a metaphor for the “writerly life.” (Ogilvie 1) He says that “the choice the speaker makes here leads deeper into the wood which…though they hold a solitary privacy, impose a stern isolation endured not without cost” (Ogilvie 1). Ogilvie is going into the emotions portrayed in the poem. Other critics are pretty harsh about the poem and about Frost as a poet in general. In an article in The Yale Review, Isadore Traschen accuses Frost of “unrestrained sentimentality” (Traschen 1). Traschen is agreeing that most people are attracted to this poem because its ideas are familiar and many people prefer romantic ideas to realistic ones. Through the use of poetic devices, figurative language and imagery, Frost has written a beautiful poem. Although some critics criticize him for writing somewhat of a “romantic” style poem, it does not matter because it is based as a metaphor for life. Whether it sounds like it is based on romantic ideas or not, the idea of how people face life-affecting choices everyday still holds true. The idea of life choices is not unrealistic at all. In contrast to Isadore Traschen’s critique, the only unrealistic thing would be if people did not have to make choices every day, whether the idea of it is presented as a metaphor or not. In conclusion, the theme in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is how people are presented with many life affecting choices everyday, and that whether the choices come out the right way or not, everyone has to live with them.. Some are life changing, and some are small. The poem is in somewhat of a romantic style, even though it is a reality-based idea. The poetic devices in the poem add to getting the story across by making it a metaphor for life. By doing that the reader is given a better, more interesting way of thinking about what the poem’s point it.
Bibliography
Bibliography/Works Cited Page Robert Frost (1874-1963). Exploring Poetry. 1994 Word Count: 1657
