Essay about Critical Analysis of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

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.

Imagery and personification are used to describe contradiction in the process of making a decision between the two paths. Since he cannot take both roads, the speaker looks down the road but cannot see beyond the undergrowth, which expresses the fact that no one knows what the future will bring. Much of the imagery in the poem is visual to describe the path to show the speaker's indecisiveness of choosing a certain path. He wants to choose the path that is less traveled so he chooses the path that is " having perhaps the better claim" (7), which is the path that is "grassy and wanted wear"(8), a personification to describe that road is not stepped by other people. However, he realizes that there is no appreciable difference between the two paths because "both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black."(11,12) The contradiction with the serious tone shows perplexity that the

The analysis of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost has been up for debate since the poem release in 1916. It is known to be one of the most frequently misinterpreted poems of all time, and even Robert Frost himself has said the poem is “tricky” to comprehend (The). When analyzing this poem many readers tend to focus only on the last lines of the poem and get caught in a trap of selective-interpretation. Quite a few people after reading Robert Frost’s poem firmly conclude that this poem is about non-conformity and individualism, however, that is not the case. Robert Frost’s poem is meant to be analyzed line by line for a complete interpretation. Readers can conclude that the poem represents making choices in life, but that is not the

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

You can tell that in the poem the season is fall because of the color of the wood. In the fall the color of the wood turns yellow which indicates that the poem takes place in the fall. The season’s representations of what time frame a person life is in. How spring represents how someone is at that kid stage of their lives and how they are getting ready to bloom into their personalities. Summer shows how people are at the fun stage of their lives. That teenage to adult hood part of life. Winter is that time of life when all the excitement has went away, kind of like the years a person is elderly. Here is a man that has had many outcomes from the decision he had made in life, so he understands how important it is to it is to make a choice and live with whatever comes after making the choices. In lines 11-12 the speakers says “And both that morning equally lay, “In leaves no step had trodden black”. When he says the leaves haven’t been trodden black indicates that the leaves haven’t been crushed from people stepping on them. So this means he was the only that have been on that

Frost uses the debating between the two roads to show the reader the two choices that are presented to him and how those two choices offer countless amount of possibilities. There are multiple different ways to decipher the poem, but Frost connects with the reader in the sense that no matter what road is taken, another road will later replace the past road. Frost begins to notice one of the two roads looks more worn down than the other, “Though as for that the passing there had worn them really about the same” this is representing real-life traumas and can show the decision making process when choosing between two options. Looking down one of the roads of life before actually following the trail shows a different perspective and point of view from the basic stand point of only seeing a problem one way and never seeing the problem or decision from another point of view. Frost decides in the end to take one of the paths and says he will take the second path another day although he may never go back to the starting point of his journey. It is more than just human instinct to not want to take the more unnatural or harmful pathway; it is easier to take the cleaner path so that the problem will be over with faster and Frost depicts this problem perfectly in the form of a short poem.

Each line rhymes beautifully (in an ABACB pattern) to create a successfully lilting form that rolls off of the tongue during the recitation of this classic poem. Each line holds such fervor and demands that the reader pay attention to each and every line, so as to gain the full meaning of Frost’s lesson. While “The Road Not Taken” happens to be a considerably shorter poem, with only three stanzas, within the first few lines the reader has already been able to create a full picture of the roads the author is presented with. By using descriptive and powerful words such as “yellow wood” and “undergrowth”, and phrases such as “In leaves no step had trodden black”, there is an immense amount of imagery throughout this entire poem (Frost 1132). As with anything, the reader adds their own personal experiences to the base imagery provided for you in the lines of poetry. If you are facing a truly difficult decision in your lifetime the paths may conjure a picture of a decrepit and twisted path that almost deters the traveler from entering. Under other circumstances however, the paths may be a little more civilized, or in my case I have always conjured this fantasy-filled visage of the Oz yellow brick road leading down the path that I choose. No matter what image you happen to conjure, the point is that Robert Frost’s iconic writing style allows for

In this poem written by author Robert Frost, the poem focuses on the theme and

The poem depicts a man was walking in a forest, down a path one autumn morning and arrived at a fork in the road. He studied the paths, looked intently down the first, then walks down the second even though there was no noticeable difference in the roads as shown by the verse "and both that morning equally lay" line 11. The sojourner saw that neither path had been frequented "in leaves no step had trodden black" line 12. As he went down one path he thought he would like to return and try the other path, but realizing it is improbable because he knows "way leads on to way" each choice leads to another new choice. He acknowledges that in the future he would remember with emotion "I shall be telling this with a sigh" remembering with regret of what was down that other path.

In life, we are often faced with tough challenges and decisions to make. In the poem, “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost, He demonstrates how the way one handles major difficult decisions, affects the outcome of life. The poem consists of 4 stanzas which each have a slightly different purpose to the poem; however, the first and second stanzas both have the same effect.

Robert Frost was an American poet whose works were both prolific and . His works are read and understood by all, young and old. Writing during a crossroad period between the 19th and 20th century, Frost uses elements form both time periods to create his unique style of poetry. He is widely considered one of the greatest poets and his work is still read and analyzed to this day, with many stresses on real life issues and lessons. Robert Frost, in his poem “The Road Not Taken” uses imagery, sound devices, and metaphors, to convey a situation in which the speaker must make a choice, between two roads, in which they opt for the one less traveled.

Could he be referring to his own death and a decesion that he may have made that makes him feel more confident about his salvation? Another thing the author is saying is that he wanted to take both roads, but he knew he couldn't. So what he really wanted was the best of both worlds, meaning he wanted to take both roads. There is a common saying about not being able to have the best of both worlds, and it applies very well in this situation; "you can't have your cake and eat it too." He eventually ends up making up his mind; he chooses the road that was "...grassy and wanted wear" (5). Many people before him had taken the road he did not select, and it is possible that we can look at that road as being the easy way out. We can tell that not may people have taken the road in which he has selected, because it still has a lot of grass growing there; this road could symbolize the long-term success of doing what is right and not what is easy. It would have been easiest for him to take the same road as everybody, but instead he wanted to be different from the people around him. In the poem the author says, "I doubted if I should ever come back" (5 ); could this be because he likes the road he choose? We have all made choices in our lives that made us so happy that we did not want to go back to our old ways; is that what the author feels? I believe the main point the author is trying to get across in this poem is

Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken,” is a literary masterpiece. It is a poem that will span the decades as one of the most influential pieces of writing in the early 1900’s. However, with such popularity of a piece comes a lot of misunderstanding of the true meaning of the work. The debate over the poem’s interpretation and tone are still disputed among scholars and has caused a great deal of confusion over the years. Many students and teachers alike interpret this poem as a philosophical one describing how choices can greatly impact a life and its outcomes. However, the poem was truly written for Frost’s best friend, Edward Thomas, to poke fun at him for his decision-making skills (Smallwood). Although this piece of poetry is widely misinterpreted, Robert Frost uses excellent symbolism, irony, and tone to show that not all literary pieces are profoundly life changing.

In the second stanza the persona continues to examine both paths and ponder which road to take. In line six Frost uses the phrase, “…just as fair” (line 6), to imply that his decision needs careful consideration because once it is made, there is no turning back. Once again, Frost points to uncertainty in the future by using the word “…perhaps…” in line seven. The speaker is judging the road from where he is standing. Frost then goes on to describe the path as “…grassy and wanted wear” (line 8). From this line, the reader gets the impression that the persona took the road less traveled by to

To begin the second stanza, the traveler turns back to what lies immediately before him, trying to evaluate the second road. In reading this stanza it is important to remember the poem is being narrated after-the-fact. The narrator is giving feelings he had at the time along with the knowledge he has now. Because neither path has an obvious advantage, the traveler makes himself believe the second road "was grassy and wanted wear" even though "the passing there had worn them about the same." As we often do, the traveler conjures up a reason to do something, even though there is no logical explanation for doing it. The path appears as if it "wanted wear," drawing the narrator in. The narrator realizes now his past compulsion and sees that neither path had any "better claim."