The Road Not Taken

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.

In “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, we are given a piece of art that simply will leave you clueless unless, you understand the pain and frustration the man is going through; when choosing what route he feels will give him the most joy. In the poem a man is walking through the woods and he comes upon a fork. He who wants to take both roads chooses the route that he feels is traveled less on. Little does he know that both road have been equally traveled on. He who travels on the route that has fresher leaves lies to himself, by convincing himself that he will come back and take the other route. Though it was a very stressful and a hard decision for the man to make, many people are put into very similar situations like in John Updike’s A and P and as well as in James Joyce’s Eveline. Both Sammy and Eveline find it troubling to make a decision that will change their life completely.

Robert Frost major theme incorporated in his work making life choices. For example, Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" the persona walking along and coming to a point where he must decide on which two paths to take: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/ And sorry I could not travel both/ And be one traveler, long I stood" (Frost 1-3). This evidence proves the persona is not sure which path to take, but he knows he will soon have to make a decision. Also, which path he take may determine ways that will change his life forever: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--/ I took the one less travelled by,/ And that has made all the difference. (Frost 18-20). The persona has chosen the one path to travel, he knows years from now his one

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.

On the last two lines, an extended metaphor was used, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way”, “I doubted if I should ever come back”. These last two lines of the third stanza, heightens the attention of readers that he hopes that he could try the other path as the traveller knows ‘how one road can lead to another’. Also, the traveller is having doubts as it is impossible to retrace steps as other choices or decisions can lead to other options in life. The third stanza raises the awareness to readers as he decided to stick with the decision that he made but still with a bit of regrets.

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

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.

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.

Frost wrote this poem about how a person took a walk and had to choose one path or the other. Both paths seemed equally worn and leafy. However when looking back later the narrator begins to think that maybe he chose the path less traveled.

Robert Frost’s tone in the poem is thoughtful and indecisive. The tone in this poem played a big role in helping people grasp the poem’s text. While reading the poem, I learned that the traveler, who I assume is Robert Frost, is uncertain of which path to go through. I could clearly see that this is a decision that he is putting a lot of thought into. Since his tone is so contemplative, I learned that this is a life decision, and not just a choice between two

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both." (Frost 1) - in life, there are many "paths" or choices; ways one can go in life. He explains that many people go one way, perhaps because others went that same way. "Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear" (Frost 1) In this, Frost is explaining that many people went one way while he wanted to travel the less worn one, because it might hold beautiful views – good experiences that no one else had gotten the chance to learn from. Life, he explains through this metaphor of travel, is full of choices. And going down one path may change ones life. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I- I took the one less traveled by; and it has made all the difference." (Frost 1) Robert Frost continues to teach an important life lesson to readers around the world through this extended metaphor

Frost writes this poem with a calm and collective narration, spoken by the traveler, who is talking with himself trying to decide which road is the better choice. In line one Frost introduces the diverging roads, which are his main metaphors. Diverging being the key word in this line because it suggests that the traveler must make a choice. Line two the traveler expresses his grief of not being able to travel both. Yet, the choice is not easy, since "long I stood" (3)

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

Robert Frost ‘s “The Road Not Taken” the author describes an internal conflict with the protagonist in the poem being in the woods, when two different paths emerge for him to take. The paths are described as looking the same “Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same “() himself there and then hastily chooses a path. The path could be taken quite literally because he describes how the paths look physically. Upon further reading the poem takes on a quite metaphorical approach with the author having two decisions in front of him and the one he chooses will set up a chain of events in his life. The driving force in the poem is laced in a sense of regret for the future because he wonders what would have happened if he took the other road.

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” both portray weighing of choices in life. The former is about youth and experiencing life and the latter is about old age, or more probably, an old spirit wearied by life. In both poems the speaker is in a critical situation where he has to choose between two paths in life. In “The Road Not taken” the speaker chooses the unconventional approach to the decision making process, thus showing his uniqueness and challenging mentality while in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” the speaker seeks a life without any pain and struggle but at the end, he has to comply with social obligation, which reflects his responsibility towards the society.