Robert Frost: Poem Analysis
Senior Honors Language Arts
February 27, 2009
The Road Not Taken
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is one the finest poems written in the 20th century. It describes the difficulties of a traveler who has to choose between two diverging roads. Frost uses the roads as a metaphor for life’s many choices, and exemplifies how these they decide a person’s outcome in life. It can also be interpreted that the speaker in the poem is promoting individualism, self reliance and wondering what he might have missed by not taking the other road.
All the stanza’s in the poem have a rhyme scheme of: A, B, A, A, B. Frost opens the poem with two paths that he has to choose between
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth. (lines 1-5)
The first sentence is marked with symbolism and a metaphor, it explains the dilemma one faces while making decisions. With a sorrowful tone he says that although he would like to choose both, he must choose one. The divergence in the trails symbolizes the differences in the two choices. By saying “one traveler”, Frost points out that he is alone. He looks down both paths but can only see up to a certain distance. This shows that he has to make a selection but he does not know what it might lead to. Thus, he continues to look down on the road trying to make a decision.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same. (lines 6-10)
Frost eventually comes to a decision, he takes the road that was less traveled by, that was fresh, new and easier to travel. He then realizes after passing through the road that both the roads were traveled by and looked about the same. Frost means that although one choice stands out at the beginning, in reality they are
February 27, 2009
The Road Not Taken
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is one the finest poems written in the 20th century. It describes the difficulties of a traveler who has to choose between two diverging roads. Frost uses the roads as a metaphor for life’s many choices, and exemplifies how these they decide a person’s outcome in life. It can also be interpreted that the speaker in the poem is promoting individualism, self reliance and wondering what he might have missed by not taking the other road.
All the stanza’s in the poem have a rhyme scheme of: A, B, A, A, B. Frost opens the poem with two paths that he has to choose between
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth. (lines 1-5)
The first sentence is marked with symbolism and a metaphor, it explains the dilemma one faces while making decisions. With a sorrowful tone he says that although he would like to choose both, he must choose one. The divergence in the trails symbolizes the differences in the two choices. By saying “one traveler”, Frost points out that he is alone. He looks down both paths but can only see up to a certain distance. This shows that he has to make a selection but he does not know what it might lead to. Thus, he continues to look down on the road trying to make a decision.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same. (lines 6-10)
Frost eventually comes to a decision, he takes the road that was less traveled by, that was fresh, new and easier to travel. He then realizes after passing through the road that both the roads were traveled by and looked about the same. Frost means that although one choice stands out at the beginning, in reality they are
Cited: Famouspoetsandpoems.com. 26 Feb. 2009 . Poetry.suite101.com. 26 Feb. 2009 . PoetryPages.lemon8.nl. 26 Feb. 2009 . WSU.edu. 26 Feb. 2009 .