Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken” centers on the concept of choice. Through the use of the central symbol, the poem expresses both the uncertainty of making a choice and the expectations of the choice made between seemingly equal options. The tone of the poem shifts throughout to show the decision-making process and the regret of choosing wrongly. While the poem gently ironizes the human response to decision making, it is also filled with the anticipation of remorse. Initially, the first significant thing about the poem comes from its title “The Road Not Taken”, which presumably refers to an unused option. In the first stanza, the speaker reaches a fork in the road while walking through the “yellow wood” (line 1) and wishes that he could travel both routes but knows it is impractical. The emphasis of uncertainty of which path to take suggests that the road is symbolic. The way the speaker compares and contemplates both paths with hesitation implies that the road is a metaphor for his life. In the first two stanzas, the tone is reflective, contemplative and indecisive as the speaker considers the two paths, “long I stood” (3). Although the speaker doesn’t tell us too much about himself, we know he is conflicted and facing a big …show more content…
The speaker questions his future of what is permanently lost as it is impossible to go back and take the unknown path. Ironically, on the other hand, the speaker is at peace knowing that there is no right choice since both paths are equally important, “I shall be telling this with a sigh” (16). There is no right path, just the chosen one and the other path. What is “sighed” (16) for “ages and ages hence” (17) is not about the wrong decisions made, but the moments of decisions themselves which mark the passing of a life and “has made all the difference”
Decision making is a common component in everyday life. When a person makes a decision, they consider their options, reach a resolution, then commit to them. But as time passes, there are those who regret their choice and wish to go back to change their decision, while some people are satisfied with their chosen path. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”, the author describes a decision making process between traveling down one road or the other. Throughout the poem, Frost uses several poetic devices, including metaphor and enjambment, to help bring his theme across: it’s important to make the best possible decision because it can only be made once, in a way that encourages readers to think before they act.
One of Robert Frost’s most well know works: “The Road Not Taken”, is arguably one of the most controversial and misunderstood poems. By just reading the title, it seems fairly simple to assume that the poem is about making choices. When the speaker is presented the two roads he must make a choice as to which path he will take for he: “Could not travel both” (Line 2). As the speaker looks down both paths as far as he can, he deciphers back and forth from believing that the paths are equal to one path is better over the other. The speaker eventually decides which path to take and he states that his choice: “Has made all the difference” (Line 20). The title and plot lead people to believe that the central theme is about choices and the importance
The poem “The Road Not Taken” talks about choices that can be good or bad, it also talks about how those choices can affect your life. My parents got a divorce when i was thirteen. I had to choose to live with my mom or dad. I chose to live with my dad because that’s where I grew up and where all my friends were. That choice has had a positive and negative effect on my life.
Although “The Road Not Taken” is also told from the view of an old man full of regrets, at the end of his life he is not. At the core, this poem is rather simple, the narrator stands in a forrest with two paths that lay in front of him, each are as worn as the other, and both have an equal number of undisturbed leaves. He knows
Sometimes in our lives we are faced to make momentous decisions. We either made a propitious selection or repent about our decisions and how our lives could have ended up if we had chosen a different path. "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem about how one traveler will choose a road that will change his whole life. The decisions we make in life should be chosen carefully because there is no going back. In his poem, he makes you think about how choices can define your life for the better or the worst, it’s all about how you look on life. He uses a lot of imagery as well as tone.
This ironic tone is inescapable. In the excerpt: “I shall be telling this with a sigh/ Somewhere ages and ages hence,” the poet anticipates his own future insincerity. He expresses a sign of regret, meaning he took the wrong decision. After reading this, we came to realize that not all decisions have to be clearly thought out or over
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
Wherein this is the extent of the metaphor, where in this poem it is a changeable anomaly subject to the readers interpretation of taking the road less travelled and whether it be a positive (sigh of satisfaction) or negative (sigh of regret). This is all one can hope when using a metaphor relating to the readers life, that they substitute their own feelings and create their own meaning, their own attitude towards to such decisions and subsequently, such journeys.
The mood of the two poems brings to mind isolation and deep thought. In “The Road Not Taken” one sees this with the setting of a wooded crossroads, which again symbolizes a choice the speaker has made. At the very beginning one gets this feeling within the first stanza it states “And be one traveler, long I stood,” which accentuates a lonely decision (3). Not only is the speaker alone, but the scenery helped shape that mood as autumn is the time of year of endings. The growth of plants stop and scenery is easy to pictures because like the former paragraph, images like “yellow wood” and “leaves” that have not been stepped on (1,12).
In “The Road Not Taken” the writer in the sonnet is voyaging and comes at the spot from where the road is isolated into two. Here he needs to choose which way he needs to go for eventual fate of his life. The goals of both pathways are obscure. Yet, the poet needs to pick one of them as he can't choose both roads at once. Utilizing “yellow wood” (line 1) as a representative signal to seniority moving toward quick, his definitive decision will endure for what he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Moving toward older age comes with the acknowledgment of the truth, it's an ideal opportunity to say goodbye to dreams and expectations. “Then took the other, as just as fair and having perhaps the better claim” (line 6-7). The poet appears to be indecisive here. But, he has settled on a choice, he is still constantly thinking about it. On the outline, both roads strike as comparative, with no apparent difference. As a result, his absence of activity and uncertainty causes him enormous distress and delay. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back” (line 14-15). The poet endeavors to persuade himself with little achievement, verging on daydreaming. He induces himself that if one road ends up being unsatisfactory, he would have the capacity to offer reparation and pick the other road. In any case, looking back, he's completely mindful that his decision will impact him in his later years
Life is made of decisions. In The road not taken, Robert Frost emphasizes the importance of different decisions and how those choices impact peoples’ life. The text examines the struggle people run into when comes a time of their lives that they need to make an important choice, regarding their future. The author define the idea of individualism as a self-evaluation that we practice when we make choices that construct our lives. Accordingly, the main message of the poem is the importance of our lives choices.
Thesis: In the poem “A Road Not Taken”, Robert Frost shares how sometimes in life one has to make decisions rather they’re good or bad. However there are consequences following one’s decisions and choices. One can use their second chance by looking forward and choosing to take the right paths in life.
Frost presents the traveler's choice of paths as a metaphor for the difficult decisions a person must make in life. The divergent paths are the choices to be made at various points along the way. Regardless of how he tries, the traveler cannot see beyond where the path is "bent in the undergrowth" (5). Likewise, nobody can predict what effect one choice will have on his life. The traveler sees the two paths as very similar or "just as fair" (6). As much as the traveler would like to return to the diverging roads, he realizes that he will not get another chance to travel the other path. With maturity comes a resignation that a choice has affected a person's life and there is no going back. He also tries to make the best of his decision by saying that it has "made all the difference." (20).
“The Road Not Taken”, an iconic work by the American poet Robert Frost, analyzes a supposedly mundane phenomenon in an unconventionally meaningful manner. The poem focuses on a man walking through the woods who encounters a fork in the road, and the events and personal reflections that follow. As the reader proceeds through this narrative they encounter many themes which are deeply connected to the human condition. “The Road Not Taken” includes themes of regret, the finality of decisions, hesitance, and self deception, which are liberally woven into the fabric of this poem as the ailments that plague the speaker’s mind and conscience.
Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, is a poem, or even a tale many readers will relate to. It is a narrative of the choices in life and the crossroads in which the individual is faced with. In the lines, there is quite clarity in the decisions and feelings of Frost throughout. His use of imagery to paint beautiful landscapes and countless sub-thoughts is extraordinary, yet he does it with such few words. Although one could see this poem for how it reads and view the story of a solemn traveler pacing down a road, when diving deep into its actual text one sees that Frost is trying to paint a much deeper picture. This metaphor of a poem is written a way that anybody who reads it can understand and relate. From each of the simple lines to the groupings of intricately placed words, this work of art brings out the meaning and passion in a well lived life.