Road Not Taken

Life is a journey with a choice of many roads to travel. Everyone is a traveler on the roads of life and must choose his own path. In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” the traveler must decide which road is best for him. Does he take the path most traveled or does he go down “the one less traveled by” (19)?   When one takes the road “ less traveled” (19) he is choosing his own path in life rather than following the mainstream.   Frost gives support to the idea that the choices one makes in life makes him the person he is.

Frost’s importance as a poet derives from the power and memorability of particular poems. “The Death of the Hired Man” (from North of Boston) combines lyric and dramatic poetry in blank verse. “After Apple-Picking” (from the same volume) is a free-verse dream poem with philosophical undertones. “Mending Wall” (all published in North of Boston) demonstrates Frost’s simultaneous command of lyrical verse, dramatic conversation, and ironic commentary. “The Road Not Taken” and “Birches” (from Mountain Interval) and the oft-studied “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (from New Hampshire) exemplify Frost’s ability to join the pastoral and philosophical modes in lyrics of unforgettable beauty (Academic American Encyclopedia).

The books and writers most popular with the public are rarely the ones most highly regarded by critics. Robert Frost was the most popular American poet of the
twentieth century. Most Americans recognize his name, the titles of and lines from
best-known poems, and even his face and the sound of his voice. Given his immense popularity, it is a remarkable testimony to the range and depth of his achievements that he is also considered, by those qualified to judge, to be one of the greats, if not the very greatest, of modern American poets (Literature Online).

Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. He moved to New England at the age of eleven and became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high... [continues]

Read full essay