“The Road Not Taken” in the Choices of Life “I shall be telling this with a sign Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ? And that has made all the difference.” (Frost 751) The narrator of this last stanza of “The Road Not Taken” is Edward Thomas, eluding that the choice he has just made may be the wrong, or the right; but only time will tell. On the surface, Robert Frost?s poem is a story about a walk on a wooded road, but it had deeper meaning to him and how he feels about the road. Also, the poem has a universal meaning about life and the choices it presents to you. Further, the poem is magnificently written in the typical rhyming Frost style. Lastly, a sigh might just be a sigh to you, but in this piece it means much more to Frost. Frost?s 1916 poem “The Road Not Taken” is an example of how Frost writes poetry enthralling the reader with a grand opening and an unexpected ending that must be thoroughly analyzed. Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” while living in Gloucestershire, England in 1914 though he was an American citizen. His friend Edward Thomas and he would often go on walks so Thomas could show him special plants or sights. When Thomas would choose a path, it was certain that every time he would regret the choice he had made sighing that they should have taken a ?better? direction (Robert Frost?s Lesser Known Poems).
When Frost wrote this he supposedly pretended to “carry himself” as Thomas just long enough to write the poem. Furthermore, Frost first wrote the poem as almost a joke for Thomas. But, it later held more value for him, as an example of life choices. “The Road Not Taken” is literally story about a walk on a road one fall morning. In the opening line it tells of how the road broke into a ?y.? This simple ?y? in the road eludes also to Frost?s first line of the poem and his choice of yellow (?y?) to describe the fall trees. Frost talks about the two roads and how they are the same, comparing them. No one else is on the road with the narrator. He is alone, contemplating the decision by himself. There is a decision that is going to be made by the narrator as to which road equally worn to take with no help from anyone. He knows that the road he takes will lead him forever, foreshadowing that the choice he does makes could be a regret or satisfaction. Frost then said in the present tense last stanza that the narrator?s choice was the road less traveled. The road in the poem is not just a road; it is a symbol of choices in our lives that we must make. Frost implies that the narrator is sorry that he could not take both roads, see two different outcomes before the decision is made. The outcomes can not be seen though, looking as far as he could the road would bend and disappear into the undergrowth. He says to himself three times in the poem that both roads are equal, but in the final outcome he chooses the one less traveled, “wanting wear” (Frost 750).
The Essay on Comparing 3 Robert Frost Poems
Comparing Frosts Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Birches, and The Road Not taken Robert Frost was an American poet that first became known after publishing a book in England. He soon came to be one of the best-known and loved American poets ever. He often wrote of the outdoors and the three poems that I will compare are of that outdoorsy type. There are several likenesses and differences in ...
Only one road may be taken, one decision made, and one final destiny for a lifetime. The narrator could live to regret that he did or did not take another path. Also, his decision may be satisfying to him, not looking back at what may have been but instead of what is here, what he is living for right now. “The Road Not Taken” is masterfully written not just with forceful opening words and an ironic final stanza but also with rhyme scheme. Frost wrote it in abaab meaning that the last word in the first, third, and fourth lines rhyme. Also, the last word of the second and fifth lines of the poem rhyme. The rhyme scheme is rhymed tetrameter, meaning that there are four beats in a line (Robert Frost?s Lesser Known Poems).
The Essay on Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken 3
ROBERT FROSTS THE ROAD NOT TAKEN Few people have learned to fully trust his own sense of how things means to him, and accept it as his guide. At several points in ones life, one abandons paths that were important to ones journey in order to get the safety and love he knew no other way to get. People must respond to information by making choices and decisions. Yet time after time, they freeze, and ...
Frost always used some rhyme scheme in his poems often joking that writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down (O?Donnell).
Using rhymes almost give the poem a sing song effect that makes it flow together easier, coming together as a whole. In the last stanza Frost says, “I shall be telling this with a sigh,” implying that Thomas chose the path, hoping that the decision was the correct one. Knowing that Thomas and Frost were friends though, this was originally to Frost a jest, since Thomas would inevitably sigh and wish they took another route. However, the sigh can also be taken in another light. The sigh could be just on the surface, for those who just ?looked? at the poem. Looking at it from that perspective the sigh could just be of the narrator giving up, choosing the road in need of wear. Also the sigh, to more in-depth readers, could be TOWARDS the reader implying just as those who might think the narrator would live to be sorry for the choice he had taken on the road, in life. He will not regret the choice he has made though, because he knows that he will never again come across the break in the road. In choosing this road, he has sealed his fate for ages and ages in the future as he reminisces upon this decision. In conclusion, “The Road Not Taken” is just another example of Robert Frost?s amazing ability as a writer to captivate his audience from the very beginning to the very end of his poems.
Frost starts with a simple ?y? in the road accented with the yellow woods surrounding it and the narrator. Later, we find out that Frost actually wrote this ?as Edward Thomas? as a jest for he would often sigh saying he wished that he chose a different route when they went on walks together. This is not just an ordinary sigh to Frost though; there is more underneath of it, much more meaning than just a breath. Also, he concludes with a masterful ending about the choice that the narrator has decided upon. The poem is a stellar example of how life choices are made alone with only nature by your side as help. Furthermore Frost ties the whole masterpiece together with tetrameter rhyme and an abaab pattern in each stanza. As William G. O?Donnell said of Robert Frost though, “Although one person?s interpretation may be superior to another?s, sooner or later you have no choice but to venture out on your own and decide what, if anything, a particular poem is all about.” So please, go and read “The Road Not Taken” and discovery the meaning of the poem for yourself, as or risk not discovering it at all.
The Essay on Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
Robert Frost’s “THE ROAD NOT TAKEN” talks about the everyday choices that one makes while traveling down the road of life. In the first stanza the speaker introduces the poem by saying “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”This is interesting because it is suggests that there are two “actual” roads, as opposed to figurative roads. Then the speaker goes on ...
Bibliography:
O?Donnell, William G. “Talking About Poems With Robert Frost.” Massachusetts Review. Summer 98, 39:2. Ebscohost. Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA. 2 Nov. 2000 .
