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The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

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Robert Frost reflects that poetry “begins in delight and ends in wisdom….It runs a course of lucky events , and ends in a clarification of life—not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are found on, but in a momentary stay against confusion” (931). His poem “The Road Not Taken” is a clarification of life. This paper will analyze and evaluate the formal elements of “The Road Not Taken” and consider how these elements work together to fit the author’s purpose and clarification about life. The form of “The Road Not Taken” is developed to the carry the reader along a series of thoughts. It is a narrative poem with only four stanzas. Each stanza is a quintain. Each verse in the first stanza is nine syllables in …show more content…

They were contemplating which choice to proceed with. The outcome appears to be in the final verse. Finally, the form, of this poem is developed in a way where reflection occur in the first three stanzas, and the sigh comes in at the last stanza inferring regret. It is as if we are wandering through past memories. Emphasis should be made to the title of the poem. It speaks to the roads “not” taken. This diction, or specific word choices, diverts the reader in discovering a deeper meaning to the poem. It is not simply that the speaker took the road “less” traveled, but speaks of the road “not” traveled. This thoughtfully diverts the reader from thinking it is merely inspiring, into noticing the regret of the narrator. “The Road Not Taken” overall an iamb, tetrameter rhythm, and an ABAAB rhyming pattern. This rhythm conveys a feeling on contemplation, or altering of thought. We feel a zig zag pattern in decisions and outcomes. The rhythm of the iamb suggests movement forward, as if walking along. Each stanza ends with a decision being made. This association of forward movement implies the aging process. As we become older, further reflection is needed recall how we had gotten to the position we have arrived at. The rhyme used is end rhyme of the first, third and fourth verse. Additionally, the second and fifth verse used an end rhyme. These end rhymes are masculine as the “final syllables are stressed and, after

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