ENGL 102: Literature and Composition
Fall B 2013
Jane S. Ciucevich ID# L25513950
Writing Style Used APA
September 15, 2013
Professor Mary Dixon
I) INTRODUCTION
A. Frost has presented a literal and metaphoric fork in the road to a traveler. He must choose between the two roads all the while knowing that by choosing one he must forgo the other.
B. “The Road Not Taken” is all about choices. The road the traveler is walking on has split. He must decide which direction to take. This road is not just a path in the woods, but a metaphoric path in his life. He is being forced to make a choice. This traveler realizes that he must choose and struggles with his decision a little. He indicates remorse that he cannot take both roads; one now and one later. He knows that he will not be able to go back and ‘relive’ the time he spends on the first road. His sigh in the first line of the fourth stanza indicates possible remorse of his choice in the present and possibly even the future.
1. Robert Frost – “The Road Not Taken”
2. Diverged is another word for split.
C. The main points are Theme (choice), and how Frost uses imagery (color, grassy, morning) to set the scene.
D. Thesis—Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken”, is all about choices and the possible implications of the choices made throughout a lifetime. Frost brings the reader into nature using imagery in this poem. He focuses on a fork in the road in the woods in autumn. Nature in this poem could hold a metaphorical meaning. The title itself compels the reader to wonder if there is some regret in the choice the speaker made in the road/path he decided to travel, or in just having had to choose at all.
II) BODY
A. The theme of this poem is choices.
1. Throughout one’s life choices must be made. The reader watches with wonder as the traveler makes his choice and justifies his decision.
2. He wants to go down both roads at the same time metaphorically, but
References: Frost, Robert “The Road Not Taken.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Kennedy, X.J.; Gioia, D. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 689. Print.