The Road Not Taken, By Robert Frost
One of Robert Frost’s most popular poems, “The Road Not Taken,” uses the choice between two roads to symbolize important decisions to be made regarding everyday life. The poem begins with “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,/And sorry I could not travel both” (1-2). Sharing conclusions drawn by a published critic, it can be agreed that the poem portrays two roads deviating in the woods as a traveler is out walking, and a choice must be made as to which path will be taken (Johnson, 2015). Regretting his inability to travel both paths, the explorer unrealistically contemplates discovering one trail and then back tracking to embark upon the other one another day. Stating “Yet knowing how way leads on to way,/I doubted if I should ever come back” (14-15), he recognizes the unlikelihood of a
…show more content…
“Frost’s poetic works are drowned in vivid scenes of fall and springtime imagery along with an individual man found alone with his fate (Gerber, 1982). The “yellow wood” (1) could represent not only the season of autumn, but also symbolize a time of significant life changes. The speaker reveals his yearning to see into the future of his choice as he spends a long time peering as far as he can see. Where the path “bent in the undergrowth” (5), could be a metaphor alluding to the speaker’s future which is cluttered by the varying consequences of this specific path choice. As the traveler describes the condition of the path, whether it has much wear or not, Frost causes the reader to consider how the choices of others influence our own decisions. Johnson argues that one must recognize the decision concerning these two roads is representative of any choice in life between alternatives that appear equally attractive, but will result through the years in a significant difference in the kind of experience one knows (Johnson and Arp, 2015). The last stanza begins with the traveler sighing as he recognizes he chose the path “less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference”
“Frost’s poetic works are drowned in vivid scenes of fall and springtime imagery along with an individual man found alone with his fate (Gerber, 1982). The “yellow wood” (1) could represent not only the season of autumn, but also symbolize a time of significant life changes. The speaker reveals his yearning to see into the future of his choice as he spends a long time peering as far as he can see. Where the path “bent in the undergrowth” (5), could be a metaphor alluding to the speaker’s future which is cluttered by the varying consequences of this specific path choice. As the traveler describes the condition of the path, whether it has much wear or not, Frost causes the reader to consider how the choices of others influence our own decisions. Johnson argues that one must recognize the decision concerning these two roads is representative of any choice in life between alternatives that appear equally attractive, but will result through the years in a significant difference in the kind of experience one knows (Johnson and Arp, 2015). The last stanza begins with the traveler sighing as he recognizes he chose the path “less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference”