Choices Define Us Growing up, almost everyone has heard the common phrase, “We are our choices.” Although Robert Frost did not come up with that saying, his poem, “The Road Not Taken” encompasses what that phrase means. In summary, this poem is about a traveler who comes to what we know as a “fork in the road” and needs to decide which way to continue. After much thought, the traveler decides to choose the “road less traveled by.” However, the traveler seems to think he might be able to come back someday and walk down the other path. Deep down, the traveler knows he won’t be able to walk the other road and part of him regrets his decision, but he’s also accepted his decision knowing that his choice makes him, him. In Robert Frost’s poem, …show more content…
When one sighs, it is usually a sigh of relief or a sigh of discontent. In the final stanza, it is difficult to determine the connotation in which the “sigh” possesses. For instance, the reader may think the sigh could represent happiness because in the final lines of the poem, the narrator says, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I / I took the one less traveled by,/ And that has made all the difference” (lines 17-19). The narrator seems happy with his choice at the end of the poem, but it could also be interpreted as discontent. The narrator eventually decides to take a path because it really doesn’t matter, whichever path he chooses; “Though as far as the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same” (8-9) he has no idea where he will end up. With that in mind, the reader realizes that the sigh is most likely one of discontent. Since the poem is about choices we make in life, and the sigh creates a negative tone, it is clear “The Road Not Taken” reflects the difficult choices we must make and ultimately, how our choices affect us in the end. Critic George Montiero provides insight as to why Frost would use a sigh in his poem. It is necessary to point out that Frost wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, who he often took long walks with. Montiero furthers our …show more content…
The title of any sort of work gives the reader their first glimpse into what they are about to experience and can foreshadow the main message of the work. Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” is no exception to this idea. One of Frost’s main themes is about the difficult choices people must make throughout their lifetime. We can also sense the ambiguity that Frost feels because he did not choose a title that was positive. For example, something along the lines of “The Road Taken” would symbolize Frost’s acceptance of the path he chose. His inclusion of the word, “not” in the title represents the regret, uncertainty, and curiosity of the road he did not take. The title sets the mood for the rest of the poem and that mood is negative and gloomy. Critic Robert Faggen further clarifies that, “The title refers doubly to bravado for choosing a road less traveled but also to regret for a road of lost possibility and the eliminations and changes produced by choice. "The Road Not Taken " reminds us of the consequences of the principle of selection in all aspects of life, namely that all choices in knowledge or in action exclude many others and lead to an ironic recognition of our achievements” (Faggen). Faggen reminds us that the title is about the road not taken. He sheds light on the title to help us understand that although one
The speaker decides on a path. In lines 16-20, Frost writes “I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. As I mentioned earlier, the speaker sighs in line 16, wishing he could have taken both roads. He opted to choose the grassy road that wanted wear (line 9). The speaker reflects back on this decision, noting that his choice has made all the difference in his life. To me, this last line reflects contentment and gratification in his earlier life choice.
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.
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.
In “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost leaves a major theme of making choices. The poem is about a man traveling and he comes across a fork-in-the-road. He must make a decision on which way he will keep traveling. One way seems familiar to him. It is by far the safer and easier route to go down. But that does come with a price. The road has been used a lot and may be more difficult to travel down even though it seems easier. He ends up choosing the road less traveled. It did not seem as convenient at the time but he states that it helped him in the long run. Not only does “The Road Not Taken,” have a theme about choices, but it also holds a theme about choosing the road less taken. Taking chances and choosing the road less traveled can have many benefits in the long run.
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
a "yellow wood" (1) when "two roads diverged" (1), that he had to make a
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
“The Road Not Taken” is a poem about how it is important to make a choice in life. In the beginning of the poem, the man is hating that he had to be stuck with the road he chose instead of being able to take both paths. The man tried to look farther down the paths that he could’ve chosen to go down, but the man was only able to see to the point that the road curved and was no longer visible. Stanza # 2, the man indicated that he took the road he felt looked better and could’ve been better because
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.
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.
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)
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
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
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