The Road Less Traveled By Robert Frost Analysis

Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken”, can be easily misunderstood, and perhaps for decades it was. Scholar Frank Lentricchia believed that in this poem, the message is that people don’t get a choice in life to pick one path rather than the other, because their lives are already mapped out for us. However, Mark Richardson had a different idea. He thought that it’s not that we don’t get a choice in life, it is that we don’t realize how the choice affects us until later in life. Although these two ideas sound reasonable, what Robert Frost really meant in this piece of writing was not that people choose between two paths, but instead they must forge their own.

Just as Conrad conveys the creation of one’s own path subconsciously in Marlow, the poem “Road not taken” by Robert Frost explores this idea, represented my literal paths and an alternate, unspoken third path. The metaphor of the physical journey shows the moral growth in the protagonist. The poem is written in first person, giving it a very personal and reflective tone, expressing a pivotal moment in the persona’s life. The use of andante, the flowing rhythm establishes a conversational tone. The rhyme scheme is simple and effective throughout the poem, however, it changes in the final stanza. By implementing a new scheme here, the final thought of reflection is emphasized. The "less traveled" road is symbolic of the gamble of choosing a more individual path in life, the protagonist’s own road. This can be compared to the quote by Antonio Machado, “Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking.” This quote exemplifies the fact that walking the path is more important than

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.

Life is difficult because no one can be sure if the choice they make will actually lead the outcome they wished for. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, one of the most recognizable poems in American literature, speaks to choices people face in their life. The speaker has to make a right choice for him, that will lead to the outcome of being what he really wants to be. "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost uses symbolism, imagery, personification, and metaphor, to explain its theme that choices made by the one's strong wish of what one really wants to be, will ultimately lead to the desired outcome.

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

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a famous poem that many people are familiar with. In the poem the speaker arrives at a fork in the road where both paths are strewn with leaves. The speaker stands there for a time to contemplate which direction to take, and finally decides to take the plunge on the one less traveled. He comforts himself with his decision by telling himself that he can take the other road another day even though he knows this is unlikely to happen. The poem concludes with the speaker’s affirmation in his choice by acknowledging the importance of his decision. Frost uses the image of two roads diverging in a yellow wood to symbolize the choices that one is confronted with in life and the consequences of making decisions.

Frost entrances the reader’s mind with the bountiful amount of imagery within the poem. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” the comforting and well-known nature that Frost describes contradicts against the terrifying reality of the unknown through decision making. Frost goes on to explain how he, as many others do, try to visualize what his life would be like if he were to go down one of the roads he chose, “Long I stood and looked down one as far as I could” worrying about how decisions will affect every independent life can be a hassle and trying to understand and fully

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.

In this poem, I believe the theme is that you have to jump at an opportunity when you get it, or you may never get that opportunity again. Moving on to the tone of the poem, I believe that it is wistful, and that the speaker might be looking back on his days, and realizing that he taking the other road might have made all of the difference in his life. There is very good diction in this poem, as some words express Frost’s feeling more than other’s would’ve. For example, in the line “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” (1), Frost really emphasizes the two roads separating from each other. In another line “In leaves no step had trodden black” (12), trodden is a more appropriate than another word such as crushed or pulverized, because it is the past form of trod, or to step in something, and gives an image of human feet stepping on the freshly fallen leaves.

?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.

In the ending of the poem, regret is displayed after realizing the wrong choices were made.

In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, Robert Frost uses an extended metaphor of two roads to develop the theme of the hard decisions in life. One example of this is, “And be one traveler, long I stood” in (Frost 3). That means that the author is a traveler with a hard decision to make, also meaning he stood for a long period of time thinking about his decision. Another example is “Through as far that passing there, had worry them really about the same.” (Frost 9). One last example is, “Two roads diverged into in a wood and I took the road less traveled by.” (Frost 18.) Meaning, instead of taking the road that everyone else traveled he took the one less traveled. You’re going to have hard decisions in life, but sometimes dare

This is a wonderful poem with many different themes and ideas. One of the biggest themes is not being afraid to take a chance. Some of the other themes include, not following the crowd, trying new things, and standing for something. This poem stated that the author "took the one (road) less traveled by, and that has made all the difference" so the author is telling the reader that we too should not be afraid to take another path.

Frost shows the readers that it is hard to choose something without knowing what will be the result, thus he wants to try both of the options to decide on something, when he says “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,/ And sorry I could not travel both”. Whole poem is constructed of this metaphor, and every line refers to something in life. In the last part where Frost says, “I took the one less traveled by” he implies the idea that people wish to be different from others, thus they are prone to choose the option which had not been chosen by many other people. Instead of saying that he was having hard time deciding on a thing to do, Frost chose to use the metaphor of a road, which forced the readers to use their imagination to understand the real meaning behind what he