Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” both portray how to take decisions in life. In both poems the speaker is in a situation where he has to choose between two paths in life. In the poem, “The Road Not Taken”, the speaker has to make a big decision in his life. This poem talks about a person who comes across an intersection in the road and he has to choose which way to follow. The speaker thinks wisely. In the end, he chooses to follow the road that was less traveled by. The Poem signifies a difficult choice in a person’s life that could offer him an easy or hard way out. There is no assurance of what lies ahead; if there will be triumph or failure. At the end of the poem, the speaker says, “that has made all the difference”, which shows choosing the harder path and working hard always gives success in life. The speaker chooses the unconventional approach to the decision making process, thus showing his uniqueness and challenging mentality. The act of choosing the road represents his uniqueness and the fact that he is always moving forward, even without stopping.
In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, the speaker has to make a big decision in his life. He has to choose between isolation and social obligation. In this phrase “Between the woods and frozen lake”, the wood becomes a symbol of life where frozen lake signifies death. When the speaker reaches the woods, he finds a world offering perfect, quiet and solitude. He stops by the wood on this “darkest evening of the year” to watch the woods “fill up with snow, and remains there so long that his little horse shakes his harness belts and reminds him of the promises he has to keep. Probably he has a lot to do in life. The speaker seeks a life without any pain and struggle but at the end, he has to comply with social obligation, which reflects his responsibility towards the society.
~Shreyans Malani
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
In Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” we can see how many different aspects of life decision making comes in the form of symbolisms. “Two roads diverge in a yellow wood. And sorry I couldn’t not travel both” This showing use how unwilling the character is of not making a right decision, this is centered on how life can come with certain choices one must make but is very unclear on how to. People always want to have everything at once but it is to show that it is impossible to have it all at the same time. The contrast completely with William Stafford “Traveling Through the Dark” where even if a stranger is killed; the perpetrator knows what he has to do and how he takes a decision when the events occurred. Although making the right choices in life is not always easy. The literary works of Robert Frost’s “The Road not Taken” and William Stafford’s “Traveling through the Dark” are about making life decisions and the lessons learned as we travel though life’s journey. This is all connected to us as readers one way or another if it is taken from a personal point of view.…
- 1427 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
“The Road Not Taken” By Robert Frost, Shows the reader in symbolic form that everyone has choices to make in life. And that these choices affect the outcome of one’s life.…
- 794 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
City of beasts is a text about a young boy named Alex who is forced into an adventure with his Grandmother into the Amazon rainforest. Stopping by woods on a snowy evening is a poem about an unidentified persona riding through dark woods on a snowy evening. I think that the main inner journey expressed in both of the poems is an inner journey through the temptations of what we want, and the responsibility of what we must.…
- 910 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a first person narrative tale of a monumental moment in the author’s life. He is faced between the choice of a moment and a lifetime manifested in his poem. Walking down a rural road the narrator encounters a point on his travel that diverges into two separate similar paths. In Robert Frost’s poem "The Road Not Taken", Frost presents the idea of man facing the difficult unalterable choice of a lifetime. This idea in Frost’s poem is embodied in the fork in the road, the decision between the two paths, and the speaker’s decision to select the road not taken.…
- 1457 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” both portray weighing of choices in life. The former is about youth and experiencing life and the latter is about old age, or more probably, an old spirit wearied by life. In both poems the speaker is in a critical situation where he has to choose between two paths in life. In “The Road Not taken” the speaker chooses the unconventional approach to the decision making process, thus showing his uniqueness and challenging mentality while in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” the speaker seeks a life without any pain and struggle but at the end, he has to comply with social obligation, which reflects his responsibility towards the society. On the other hand, in the poem "Acquainted with the Night" Frost focuses on the speaker’s depression and loneliness through a depiction of a late night journey. Instead of struggling with choices, the speaker is idle in being dissatisfied. He has walked beyond the city limits…
- 1813 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays -
”The Road Not Taken” suggests that by choosing the less travelled path, one chooses to rebel against the societal norms, revolt against conventional pathways that is use by the majority. One displays individuality, by choosing the road less taken, he does not live in regret nor despair. In comparison to that, is the poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, which depicts that one should not choose to give up, “the sad heights”, reveal the father’s regrets in failing to make something out of himself. Adversity is presented to the father as a vast spectrum of severity and it has dramatically became detrimental to his life that he becomes hopeless, but he learns to endure the adversities and not escape…
- 1692 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Choices are looked at differently by the individual person. Each choice at a time should be given a fair chance to be studied. In the poem it says, “then took the other, as just as fair,” (Frost 6). Robert Frost is saying that the traveler gave each road a fair chance while deciding which road to take. With the result of the choice the traveler makes, the decision was not a bad one because the traveler says, “and that has made all the difference,” (20) which means the decision made was the best for the traveler. Decisions in life should always be thought out especially if it is a big decision that could drastically change your life with no going back.…
- 682 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a poem that symbolizes literal and metaphorical forks in the road, to which decisions that are made can have a drastic impact on an individuals life. It centers around the topic of choices. The narrator takes us through a once difficult decision that he is faced with and how he looks back on it afterward.…
- 1057 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Robert Frost wrote many magnificent works of poetry within his lifetime. Two of his poems that were written within seven years of each other, “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, have such remarkable comparisons within each other. Frost plays on many aspects within each, while still keeping consistency of themes such as life, nature, and the emotions of the narrator and how they affect their lives and choices. With the undertone of life being a key component, one speaks of a choice to make and how it can affect the life from that moment forward, the other hints at a life lived and reflection.…
- 1029 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Many of the choices we have to make result in picking something over another, this can lead to careful contemplation and even regret. Robert Frost poem " The Road Not Taken" gives a perfect illustration of making a choice in one's life and the thought process someone may go through in making a choice. The poem takes place in the woods with the speaker coming across a fork in the road…
- 782 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
“The Road Not Taken” “ The Road Not Taken’, by Robert Frost is about a man who chooses one path but is curious and questions the other. The man feels a sense of regret later on in the poem because he would most likely never take the other path ever again. Two primary themes that are developed in this poem are no matter what you are doing in life you’ll be fine and to just go with it because you can’t go back in time. “I shall be telling this with a sigh” (Frost,16). This states how the man was telling it with such sorrow because he could have taken the other path but again will never get the chance to take it.…
- 353 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” remains one of my personal favorites in spite of many years of literary study. The advice of this poem has helped me to understand that when I choose atypical paths it creates a ripple effect that produces differences so profound I can hardly imagine my life without that nonstandard choice. However, I had to realize on my own that every choice has the capacity to become such a divergence. With this realization comes a certain weight to daily choices, and anything beyond that calls for careful thought and planning. The world is full of uncertainties, but assiduous preparation can produce wise choices that lead to the fulfillment of long term goals.…
- 157 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
This essay discusses the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. This poem describes a man who is walking in the woods. As he is walking, he finds that the path he is on splits into two roads. He is forced to decide which road to take in order to continue his journey. Throughout the rest of the poem, he describes the experience of his journey. Frost uses many poetic devices throughout this poem. He uses metaphor to describe the road as a part of life. He also uses rhyme scheme to show the important phrases and words to help the reader understand and comprehend the message behind the poem. Finally, Frost makes use of alliteration and similes to draw the reader closer to the text and compare his experience to other occurrences…
- 583 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
We come to life changing trials in our life, some may be a path that we are glad we did while others wished that we can go back and choose the other because of a negative result. In the poem written by Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”, shows us that making a decision is not always easy. In the…
- 1001 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The poem “The road not taken” by Robert Frost outlines a scenario every human being on the planet has encountered. The images and emotions evoked are masterfully woven into the style that Frost used. Using the formalist approach this poem is easily stripped down to the intent of sharing a common decision making process with the readers. Robert Frost is able to skillfully use writing techniques to share a common experience of which road to take in life and create a poem that evokes those memories every time.…
- 668 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays