The Road Not Taken By Frost Essay, Research Paper

Which way to go?

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” shows the uncertainty as to which road of life a person should choose. It raises the question of whether it is better to choose a road on which many travel, or to choose the road less traveled and explore it yourself. In his poem “The Road Not Taken” Frost’s theme is about how the choices one makes affect life. In this poem the speaker s tone, diction, and setting help to illustrate the struggle a person goes through in their lives to pick the right road to travel.

In the first line of the first stanza, Frost says, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” which is seemingly a very important part of the poem. This line is a metaphor in which Frost uses the woods to represent life. Using this as an image helps to have a better understanding of the complexity of the problem that the speaker is facing. If you were standing at the edge of some woods you would not be able to clearly see what was ahead of you, because it would be obstructed by trees and branches. Life is like those woods because no one can clearly see or predict what will happen in the future, only hope to choose a path that will lead you to good fortune and happiness. Another interesting part of this line is how he describes the woods as yellow. Yellow is a word that strongly helps out the imagery, helps to describe the uncertainty of the speaker, and implies that he may be scared to even choose a path. Evidently he does not want to choose the wrong road and mess up the rest of his life. I believe that as he stands before these two roads he is really confused and scared as to which road to pick. All he can do is look as far down each road as possible, and hope that he decides upon the right one. This is exactly what he does when he looks down the first road, at the end of the first stanza.

The second stanza starts off with the speaker talking about the other path, and how he looked just as hard, just as long, and just as fair on this path as he did the first. Meaning that he took exactly every step analyzing this road as he did the other. It is about this time when I first noticed a change in the speaker s tone. It becomes a little more confident, not much, but definitely less confused and scared than he was earlier. The first glimpse of this change in tone is in the second stanza when he tells us that the second road was grassy and wanted wear. It also shows that the speaker may not want to be like everybody else, a follower, but instead wants to choose a different road and be himself, a leader. This line also suggests that the road wanted wear, like he was drawn to path not just out of his own desire to be different, but maybe out of some pity. That pity being that the road is traveled less not because it is not appealing, but that people are too afraid to be different.

In the third stanza the speaker says that, “And both that morning equally lay/In leaves no step had trodden black,” which I take to mean that the few people who did choose to take the road less traveled did not come across any difficulties or obstacles. He then goes on to say that, “Oh, I kept the first for another day,” as to say that it took him a long time to make his decision. Actually it may have been months or even years before the speaker chose a road. I think that there are two reasons why it was very hard for the speaker to make that choice. First reason is that he would not be able to know right away if he had made the right decision. He knew that the decision he made would determine the outcome of his life, and that he would have to be devoted to the road he chose. Once he made his decision he would probably never be able to turn back. Another reason might be that the roads didn t look that much different. In the last two lines of second stanza he tells us that the passing had worn the two roads really about the same. I believe that he meant by this that the two roads didn t look much different because he wasn t able to see in the future and tell the outcome of any road.

In the last stanza, the speaker s tone seems to change. This time his tone seems to be filled with confidence, and the confused and scared tone is gone. I believe this confidence is shown in line eighteen, when the speaker tells us that two roads diverged in a wood. The speaker repeats the first line, except he leaves out the word yellow. I think he purposely left out the word yellow to show that he had gained confidence, and that he was no longer scared. I also believe that the word yellow was used to show the lapse of time between when he was first faced with the decision to the time he actually made his decision. Using this imagery, in the first stanza yellow meant the color of the trees foliage, and in the last stanza they are no longer yellow. Also in the last stanza he says, “I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence.” I don’t believe he said this is in a negative way, as to show that he chose the wrong road. Instead I believe it helps to show that he chose the right one, and the sigh was to show that it had not been easy. It helps to show that through the years he stuck with the path he chose no matter what the situation, or how hard it was to stay on it and keep going.

In the last two lines the speaker tells us that he did choose the road less traveled, and that it has made all the difference. By this I believe he meant that since he decided to be different it lead him on the road to a good life. One that was full of confidence, happiness, and independence. I also believe that the speaker discovered this difference later on in his life. It would be the effect of the choice that he made that would make all the difference. The speaker would recognize this effect in future; therefore he would not know if he made the right decision for a long time.

After you read this poem you realize that the poem is actually very deep. This poem is about choices and our inability to take two paths at once. But more than that, it is about the choices one makes at a certain point in their life. The experiences that they have gained from pervious choices brings them to this choice, as this will lead to many other choices. “The Road Not taken” gives us insight into this theme. It is a reminder that one decision in life can change everything.