The Tell Tale of the Road Not Taken Poets use specific elements to evoke the appropriate responses/thoughts. Despite using the same elements, the way the author employs these elements into their poem can provoke various levels of critical thought resulting in variations between what message the reader takes away versus the originally intent of the author. Poets such as, Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Frost, use imagery and irony to set tone and strengthen their underlying less obvious themes, sometimes opposite of their original intent. In a, Tell-Tale Heart, Poe uses these elements to convict an insane man who tries to convince you of his sanity as an implied comment on rationality. Contrastingly in Robert Frost’s, The Road Not Taken, the author writes a poem as a joking gesture to his friend, the poet Edward Thomas, who poet Katherine Robinson claims as being, “chronically indecisive” (par. 1) later resulting in the poem being, “…taken pretty seriously…despite [him] doing [his] best to make it obvious by [his] manner that [he] was fooling…” (Robinson par. 1). For both these works it is obvious the strong use of imagery sets the tone for both poems. In Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, emphasis is placed on the time of year when Frost elaborates details such as the “…newly fallen yellow leaves… [by using this one detail Frost] ...makes it emblematic of the entire forest…” (Robinson par. 2) which does justice to reiterate the message: “…a single decision can transform a life,” (Robinson par. 2). By assuming that the poem is set in autumn due to the yellow wood, the reader can provide a big picture analysis to understand Frost’s ideas and his purpose on emphasizing those specific details. Traits/ideas we associate with autumn can be the passage of time, transitioning we can surmise from the yellow leaves that the wood is starting anew, “[a]n inveterate New England farmer and woodsman, Robert Frost would have known these woods were “new”—full of trees that had grown after older ones had been decimated. [This imagery creates an authentic scene evoking nostalgia and] …a sense of transience; one season will soon give away to another,” (Robinson par. 2). In the same way Frost choses to elaborate on small specific
The Road Less Traveled by Robert Frost is a piece about a traveler who is walking through the woods and comes to a fork in the road. He contemplates which path to take and eventually takes the road that looks to him as if it is less traveled. In the end, he looks back at his choice regretfully. The message was that sometimes in life people need to make choices, but when they reflect back on the choices made, they might need to justify their choices. The speaker uses the metaphor of having to chose a path to take on a road to having to make a decision in life. Rhyming techniques and metaphors attribute to the meaning of the poem, as well. He uses repetition to convey feeling and restate the message. All of these devices add to the message of the importance of making choices in life.
Robert Frosts “The Road Not Taken” is more symbolic of a choice one must make in their life in attempt to foresee the outcome before reaching the end, than it is about choosing the right path in the woods.
Not only are metaphors utilized throughout the poem, but a literary device known as Imagery is as well. Imagery is alternative as important a device for it allows for the reader to have a clear picture of what the character in the poem is visualizing. Furthermore, it also helps covey the theme the author is aiming to represent to the reader. Imagery is made known in stanza two line three, which states, “Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (Myer, 1091). Here the author is using imagery to inform the readers the traveler is coming up with a reason for why one path could be more favorable over the other. The reader analyzes this line of imagery to obtain a clearer representation of the traveler’s decision-making process. Another line where the author uses imagery is in stanza two line five, which states, “Had worn them really about the same” (Myer, 1091). Here the author is using imagery to inform the reader that the paths are “worn” down, which informs the reader that both of his choices have been equally chosen by people before him. These examples help the reader begin to form the theme of self-justification in decision-making. After analyzing the metaphors and the imagery Frost uses in this poem, the reader can conclude so far that the theme the poet is conveying
In the Robert Frost poem ‘’The Road Not Taken’’ there is a pervasive and in many ways intrinsic sense of journey throughout. In such, the poem explores an aspect associated with human decision, or indecision, relative to the oxymoron, that choices with the least the difference should bear the most indifference, but realistically, carry the most difficulty. This is conveyed through the use of several pivotal techniques. Where the first such instance is the use of an extended metaphor, where the poem as a whole becomes a literary embodiment of something more, the journey of life. The second technique used is the writing style of first person. Where in using this, the reader can depict a clear train of thought from the walker and understand
Discovering more of Frost's past life, it's no surprise that most of his poems revolve around the five stages of grief and loss. In understanding the process of grief , the poem "The Road Not Taken" seems to implement the stage of acceptance. In the first stanza, we are approached with two decisions "in a yellow wood", yellow meaning intellect, energy and wisdom . While Wood meaning tree, implying growth or a rapid increase in something. Tree's usually turn yellow in the fall, the season fall meaning death or dying, typically referring to a tragedy. Already knowing a positive decision will be made based on a rapid increase in death, we then turn to the next turning point "Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for the passing there had worn them about the same...".
So I decided to write an explication essay on the poem “The Road Not Taken”. The poem is by Robert Frost and it tells the story about a man who is thinking about something he had done before. Even though what he did wasn’t looked as being good or bad, it was indicated the decision he made had an outcome that caused a shift in his life.
How can an author effectively convey a universal message to the broadest audience possible? Simple. The author must simply create a completely impartial narrator, devoid of sex, status, or age. The Road Not Taken is a poem told by an impartial narrator who has come to a crossroads in his/her life. The crossroads is represented by a forked path that leads through a forest. The setting is also impartial; the forest is anytime and anywhere the reader desires it to be. The narrator is forced to make a life-decision, thus changing the course of his/her life forever. Symbolism and imagery are used effectively to reinforce the main theme of the poem.
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.
?The Road Not Taken? (1916) tells of someone faced with two of life?s decisions however only one can be chosen. Whichever road is taken will be final and will determine the direction that their life takes. Frost drives this poem by a calm and collective narrative, spoken by the traveler of the diverged roads. Who is speaking with himself trying to convince himself of which road is the better choice. Frost wrote this poem using standard, modern language.
Comparing Frost’s "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", "Birches", and "The Road Not taken" Robert Frost was an American poet that first became known after publishing a book in England. He soon came to be one of the best-known and loved American poets ever. He often wrote of the outdoors and the three poems that I will compare are of that "outdoorsy" type. 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
To start off, the poems The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and Seasons Changing by Annijah Collins, McKenna Faychak, and Emily Mottley both have two different meanings. For example, in “The Road Not Taken” it states, “ Two roads diverged in a wood and I- I took the one less traveled by (Frost 18-19). The text shows that out of the two roads he chose the alternative path since no one usually picks the one he did, even though he was capable of picking the ordinary one. In addition, it states, “ Autumn, winter, and the rain begins a seasonal chain” (Collins, Mottley and Faychak 23-24). This shows that the main point of the poem was the seasons constantly changing. The poem “The Road Not Taken” meaning is about how a man is deciding between two paths that would commence the rest of his journey through life, and “Seasons Changing” is about how the seasons constantly change.
Which talks about a happy love story with a deadly ending.They meet and fall in love then the wife dies in a house of fire. Robert Frost wrote “Fire and Ice” and “A Road Not Taken” Fire and Ice is about how he thinks the world may end. “A Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is about all the different paths you can take in the outcomes they make.
Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Frost influenced my thorough love of different styles of literature, particularly poetry. To the masses, Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Frost only share job titles, but the two poets share many similarities within their writing. Personally, I read pieces from both authors over the course of my schooling experience. I admired Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” from a young age, and that particular stole my heart since the first read. “The Raven,” became one of my favorite poems further down my schooling career, with its clear ominous tone that symbolizes much of Poe’s writing. Frost’s and Poe’s works may not seem similar, aside from the section in which their books reside within a library, but their work resembles each other’s quite well. Frost’s writing serves as a better introduction to poetry due to his easily relatable themes, his background connects to everyday audiences, and his use of modern language.
One very effective method alike from Shakespeare, that Frost uses, is Denotation and Connotation, which in conjunction with symbolism give the poem richness and color. Symbolism is used, when the author wants to suggest a certain mood, rather than blasting it out, the author hints the readers throughout symbols.Denotation is what the dictionary says a word means, and connotation, is what a word can make you think of. For example, the denotation of the word “Road” is: A long, narrow stretch with a smoothened or paved surface, made for traveling by motor vehicle or carriage. While the connotation of this word, is what you choose to do with your life, are you going to choose the path everybody takes, or are you going to forge your own path in life. So rather than just telling us that the two roads
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words,” Robert Frost once said. As is made fairly obvious by this quote, Frost was an adroit thinker. It seems like he spent much of his life thinking about the little things. He often pondered the meaning and symbolism of things he found in nature. Many readers find Robert Frost’s poems to be straightforward, yet his work contains deeper layers of complexity beneath the surface. These deeper layers of complexity can be clearly seen in his poems “ The Road Not Taken”, “Fire and Ice”, and “Birches”.