The Road Not Taken_critical Analysis Essay, Research Paper

Robert Frost, an American poet was born in 1874. Frost used the landscapes of New England for the settings in most of his poems. His work has often been criticized for it s uneven quality, as well as its simplistic philosophy and form (Pound 239). Frosts best poems explore fundamental questions of existance, depicting with chilling matter -of- factness with the loneliness of the individual confronted with an indifferent universe (Winters 192). Frost received the pultzer prize four times. He died in 1963. In The Road Not Taken , Frost tells about one traveler with a choice between two roads to in the woods. One road bent in the undergrowth and the other road grassy and wanted wear. The choice the traveler makes between the two roads will make all the difference in the travelers life. The Road Not Taken is a poem of a man whom one might call a spiritual drifter; and a spiritual drifter is unlikely to have either the intelligence or the energy to become a major poet (Winters 193). It is apparent that Frost must have had difficulty in making decisions in life and these decisions are constantly on his mind, it is reflected in his work. He apparently decides, or more accurately, he tries to convince the himself that

by taking the less traveled road, he has provided his life with a direction that has made all the difference (Kemp 248). The two roads that diverged in a yellow wood represent a critical choice between two ways of life. The poet takes the one less traveled by, the lonelier road, which, we can presume, leads deeper into the woods .The dark woods, though they hold a salutary privacy, imposes a stern isolation, an isolation endured not with out cost (Ogilvie 117). Frost takes a chance of not following everyone else by choosing the less traveled Road. In the end of the poem Frost was unclear to where this road may have led. Had Frost been a more intelligent man, he might have seen that the plight of the spiritual drifter was not inevitable, he might of judged it in a light of a more comprehensive wisdom (Winters 198). If Frost would of thought of this he may of wrote a better poem. His poem is good as far as it goes; the trouble is that it does not go far enough, it is incomplete, and it puts on the reader a burden of critical intelligence which ought to be borne by the poet (Winters 193). The Road Not Taken tells the readers that there will always be decisions and along with that there will always be factors in making them. Sometimes mainstream may not be the way to go, maybe something that is precieved as good may not be what it seems, sometimes it may be better to stray from all the rest and find an easier route. Its up to the individual to follow the right route wether it s the road frequently traveled or the one that needs wear.