The Road Not Taken
Clara Kirkpatrick
Mr. Woods
English 102 CHA
8 November 2010
The Road Not Taken
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 theme, mood and tone of the poem. Before delving into the thick of the explication, one must remember that this is one particular interpretation of the poem, one which may border on the original intent of the poet or altogether veer away from it. Nonetheless, "The Road Not Taken" encompasses both the microcosm and macrocosm of human existence and experience.
It is a lyric poem because no major technique was made use of (4 stanzas, five lines each). The rhyme scheme of the poem is as follows: (1) abaab, (2) cdccd, (3) efeef, (4) ghggh. All of the end rhymes are masculine that is, each consists of a single syllable and the poem has an iambic pentameter (The Road Not Taken 198). Although the speaker of Robert Frost 's poem “The Road Not Taken” tells us that the road he takes is "less traveled," in the second and third stanzas, he makes it clear that "the passing there" had worn these two paths "really about the same" and that "both that morning equally lay/ in leaves no step had trodden black" (Frost 9-12). The poem is told from the point of view of a speaker who imagines that he will contemplate his life later, "[he] shall be telling this with a sigh," and whether he will have made the right choice or not. In fact, the only
Mr. Woods
English 102 CHA
8 November 2010
The Road Not Taken
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 theme, mood and tone of the poem. Before delving into the thick of the explication, one must remember that this is one particular interpretation of the poem, one which may border on the original intent of the poet or altogether veer away from it. Nonetheless, "The Road Not Taken" encompasses both the microcosm and macrocosm of human existence and experience.
It is a lyric poem because no major technique was made use of (4 stanzas, five lines each). The rhyme scheme of the poem is as follows: (1) abaab, (2) cdccd, (3) efeef, (4) ghggh. All of the end rhymes are masculine that is, each consists of a single syllable and the poem has an iambic pentameter (The Road Not Taken 198). Although the speaker of Robert Frost 's poem “The Road Not Taken” tells us that the road he takes is "less traveled," in the second and third stanzas, he makes it clear that "the passing there" had worn these two paths "really about the same" and that "both that morning equally lay/ in leaves no step had trodden black" (Frost 9-12). The poem is told from the point of view of a speaker who imagines that he will contemplate his life later, "[he] shall be telling this with a sigh," and whether he will have made the right choice or not. In fact, the only