Analysis of the Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost shows the narrator coming to a fork in the wood, which offers two paths to take. By use of symbolism and various verb tenses in different stanzas the author was able to convey the overall meaning of the poem. The narrator scrutinized the road but does not find a noticeable difference in the two paths and thus was stuck deciding whether which road is the better decision. However, in the fourth stanza, by the allegory “I took the one less traveled by” shows that the narrator wishes to take the path which leads to individualism. The narrator portrayed that in life there are decisions we must make that must be based on our own agenda. Symbols also play in defining the meaning of the poem. The symbol of the color yellow is use to show more than just the narrator’s cowardice, but also yellow represents autumn meaning the author is at the end of his life which indicates that he has wasted his whole life in indecision. Other symbols such as “two roads” and “one traveler” in the first stanza show the idea of free choice and individualism of the narrator. We can also tie in to the fact that because the roads lies in the woods, and that roads represents free choice, the overall idea would be comparable to free choice and fate. You are free to choose what choice to make but in the end the choices you make are still a part of your fate.
In the first three stanzas the poem is written in past tense, but in the fourth stanza the poem is written in future tense. By repeating “two roads diverged in a wood” in the fourth stanza the narrator is implying that he is reflecting upon if the choice he had made was the better of the two choices. The first three stanzas of the poem being in past tense hints that he is looking back at his past, but the fourth stanza shows us the narrator is hoping “somewhere ages and ages hence” the decision he made will benefit him. In addition, because the narrator is still uncertain if the choice he made was the