The Road Not Taken
Paige Allen
Instructor Anthony Sanders
English Composition I
28 November 2012
“The Road Not Taken” Life is full of decisions that need to me made. These decisions could be simple or difficult to make. Either way, these decisions will affect our lives in some way. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” tells the story of a man who is taking a walk in the woods and reaches a fork in the road. He must choose which road to take with the 2 being very different from one another. In his poem, Frost uses the man’s walk in the woods as a metaphor for making decisions in everyday life. To some people, this decision might seem pointless or simple, but it’s not always the best to take the easy way out. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…” We can get the image that the poem takes place in the fall. It’s stated in the first line of the poem. Frost describes a forest that isn’t dark and gloomy as a usual forest setting. The “yellow wood” describes the time of the year when the color of leaves begin to change. Another way we can tell its fall is in lines 11-12. “And both that morning equally lay, in leaves no step had trodden black.” This shows that there were leaves on the ground which were falling or had already fallen.
As we know, each path starts in the same place but most likely ends in 2 completely different destinations. This makes the decision difficult to make because you would want to know where the path leads. In reality, we usually tend to take the easy way out. The road that is visibly traveled more is the one we’d be more comfortable taking, even though the outcome is unclear. Robert Frost ultimately is trying to show us the importance of decisions making and how it can affect our lives, being now or later. After taking some time to look down the paths, stated in line 4, “I looked down one as far as I could…” and thinking, the traveler finally makes up his mind, choosing the road that is less traveled. The traveler takes a brave move taking the
Instructor Anthony Sanders
English Composition I
28 November 2012
“The Road Not Taken” Life is full of decisions that need to me made. These decisions could be simple or difficult to make. Either way, these decisions will affect our lives in some way. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” tells the story of a man who is taking a walk in the woods and reaches a fork in the road. He must choose which road to take with the 2 being very different from one another. In his poem, Frost uses the man’s walk in the woods as a metaphor for making decisions in everyday life. To some people, this decision might seem pointless or simple, but it’s not always the best to take the easy way out. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…” We can get the image that the poem takes place in the fall. It’s stated in the first line of the poem. Frost describes a forest that isn’t dark and gloomy as a usual forest setting. The “yellow wood” describes the time of the year when the color of leaves begin to change. Another way we can tell its fall is in lines 11-12. “And both that morning equally lay, in leaves no step had trodden black.” This shows that there were leaves on the ground which were falling or had already fallen.
As we know, each path starts in the same place but most likely ends in 2 completely different destinations. This makes the decision difficult to make because you would want to know where the path leads. In reality, we usually tend to take the easy way out. The road that is visibly traveled more is the one we’d be more comfortable taking, even though the outcome is unclear. Robert Frost ultimately is trying to show us the importance of decisions making and how it can affect our lives, being now or later. After taking some time to look down the paths, stated in line 4, “I looked down one as far as I could…” and thinking, the traveler finally makes up his mind, choosing the road that is less traveled. The traveler takes a brave move taking the