Road Not Taken Essay

Imagine that your making a decision and you are stuck to choose between two things that could change and impact your life greatly. What would you do? What pathway would you take?

As I read and analyzed this poem I became aware that it is indeed a great poem and that the reader must dig deep in order to find the true message of the poem. Careful readers shall not be tricked.

The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost describes the dilemma in decision making, generally in life each individual has countless decisions to make and those decisions lead to new challenges, dilemmas and opportunities. In Frost’s poem, the careful traveler observes the differences of each path, one is bent and covered in undergrowth (Frost 5) and the other is grassy and unworn (Frost 8). In the end he knows he can only choose one of the paths, after much mental debate he picks the road less traveled and is well aware that he will likely never return to experience the other. By examining Frost 's "The Road Not Taken," we get a deeper understanding of

Robert Frost's poem “The Road Not Taken” describes a traveler faced with a choice of which one of two roads to travel. He knows not where either road might lead. In order to continue on his journey, he can pick only one road. He scrutinizes both roads for the possibilities of where they may take him in his travels. Frost's traveler realizes that regret is inevitable. Regardless of his choice, he knows that he will miss the experiences he might have encountered on the road not taken.

In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, Frost shows the everyday human struggle to make a choice that could change the course of one’s life. In his poem, a person has the choice to take one road or the other. One road is worn out from many people taking it, and the other is barely touched, for fewer have taken that road. Throughout the poem, the speaker learns that just because so many other people have done one thing, or walked one way, does not mean everyone has to. Sometimes you just have to go your own way.

Contrary to popular belief, the passionate optimism of Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience directly contradicts the cynical view found in Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken”. On the surface, Thoreau and Frost have similar viewpoints, and their works are complementary. However, although “The Road Not Taken” is often believed to be a celebration of thoughtful individualism, Frost actually intended it as a mockery of indecision and boastful retrospection. Thoreau and Frost assert contradictory outlooks, which they personally practice, leading to works of literature which explore the opposite worldviews of the two authors. “The Road Not Taken” seems on the surface to applaud casual individuality, but the infamous last two lines have been quoted in congratulatory cards and at graduation speeches for almost one hundred years: “I took the road less traveled, / and that has made all the difference” Four stanzas long, the poem

The poem ¨The Road Not Taken¨ was written by Robert Frost in 1915. It was from a collection of poems titled ¨ In The Poetry of Robert Frost¨. (Copy the title exactly as it appears at the bottom of the poem. There was more to the title, and it was Italicized.)

When writing literature, if we wish to tell a story from the first-person’s point of view, we often refer to the protagonist as “I”. In both classic and modern writings, the speaker and narrator definitely become a major of part of a variety of stories. For instance, the short story “Jon” written by George Saunders, and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost both were able to clearly displays how the protagonist act as the narrator and how readers often find them creating an immense impact of the plot of the stories. Based on both texts, the narrator uses the pronoun “I” to refer to themselves, in which sometimes they sound similar and different, which further emphasizes the differences in the effect of the voices. Both the narrators of “Jon” and “The Road Not Taken” were somewhat similar, primarily because they had the abilities to convey a strong message through the theme of decision making.

I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh

The primary theme in “The Road Not Taken” is about making choices. In the poem, the speaker comes upon an intersection in the road. Since the speaker does not have the capacity to travel both roads at the same time, he must decide which one to take. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both.”

It takes a lot to find the real meaning in a book or piece of text; or does it? Sometimes finding the thesis of a piece of text is as easy as just reading the text once or maybe twice. For example, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost has a lot more meaning than the literal meaning.

In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” the narrator of the poem analyzes his situation thoroughly prior to choosing his path. His process can be seen in several lines of the poem. For example, his decision begins, “And be one traveler, long I stood.” Similar to making any life altering decision, the narrator takes time rather than rushing in to his path. He weighs the options of each path (decision) as he “looked down one as far as [he] could…Then took the other, as just as fair.”

It is a fact of life that decisions must be made in order for a person to progress through life. One cannot simply make the decision to sit in an infinite state of neutrality. The simplest daily processes are decisions that have been made, whether they are conscious decisions or unconscious decisions. It does not matter if the decisions are right or wrong. That in itself is not important because right and wrong is entirely subjective. The only important motion in play is that a decision has been made.

Choosing the right path is hard when there is a lot at stake to lose. Sometimes doing what is best for you may hurt the ones you love. It is sometimes necessary to take a chance and choose the riskier path to see what is behind the next bend, or corner. The poem, “The Road Not Taken” describes a person having a hard time choosing what path to take. Robert Frost elicits the central idea, theme, meaning, and how the speaker came to his decision by the use of metaphors describing the want for his readers to think through the hard decisions in life. One decision in life can make you or break you. It is all on how a person approaches the situation.

The road I chose to not take was to go on family vacations in the summer. Had I gone on family vacations I would have experienced more family time, created more memories, and had the adventures of a lifetime with my family. Being able to experience more family time would allow me to make more lasting memories with my grandparents. I could have made family memories with my relatives which could last me lifetimes. The family adventures could have been memorable and possibly sparked a new career interest.