Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California. His interest in poetry began in high school and then escalated while attending Dartmouth and Harvard colleges. Although he never earned a formal college degree, Frost began his poetry career by writing his first poem, My Butterfly, at 20 years old. “Frost struggled …show more content…
The two often took walks together in the park; one day they discussed their dreams of moving back to America, starting a farm, and writing poetry all day. They both loved the idea, however, Thomas was a very indecisive man. He was at a fork in the road deciding between going with Frost or going off to war. Frost took his situation, therefore creating “The Road Not Taken”.
Edward Thomas finally decided to go off to war due to an encounter that he and Frost had with a local gamekeeper. “Thomas recalled the feeling of fear and cowardice… he vowed that he would never feel that way again” (Article from the Poetry Foundation). This ultimately was the reason for his decision and it made a big difference for him in the end. Deciding on a pathway for yourself is difficult; especially when one of your choices does not include your friends. This is the exact message Frost wanted to reveal in “The Road Not …show more content…
Imagery is very important in this piece because he uses most of the poem to describe the setting. In the very first line, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, readers can picture being in the woods during an autumn day and staring at a road that splits in two. Out of any color to represent autumn he chose yellow; yellow is a bright color that represents a bright future. In line 3 the speaker is pondering on what to decide; “long I stood,” he says, readers can picture a puzzled frown on his face. Also in line 12 Frost describes the leaves having no steps on them; here you can imagine a perfect pathway without footprints or tracks on it.
The overall tone of the poem could be described as serious because the speaker is making a difficult decision and is in the process of making that choice throughout the poem. “And sorry I could not travel both… long I stood”, lines 2-3, they are thinking very hard about what they should do. For the most part the tone is serious, but it shifts to a sense of relief after they make their decision. “I shall be telling this with a sigh”, line 16, people often misconceive this “sigh” as a dreadful one. It is a sigh of relief that his decision has been made and they are happy with their