The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost relates on both a literal and metaphoric level to the concept of a journey. The poem depicts one man’s journey throughout his life, the choices he made and the road he travelled. The Road Not Taken is a poem with universal relevance about a journey that every person takes. Here is a first person narrative tale of a monumental moment in the speaker’s life - Frost can be considered the speaker. Frost is faced between the choice of a moment and a lifetime manifested in his poem. Frost presents the idea of an individual facing the difficult unalterable predilection of a moment and a lifetime. This idea in Frost’s poem is embodied in the fork in the road, the decision between the two paths, and the speaker’s decision to select the road not taken.
Frost effectively conveys his theme and meaning through the use of numerous techniques. These techniques include simple yet powerful imagery, word choice and rhyme and rhythm. Also vital in the effectiveness of this poem is the use of symbolism and the extended metaphor present.
Literally this man is a traveller standing at the divergence of two roads. Metaphorically this man is in the ‘autumn’ of his life, suggested by the “yellow wood” and
has come to the crossroads where decisions have to be made to determine the rest of his life. The subject chose “the road not taken” by others and although he ponders what lies down the unknown at the end of his life he is reminiscent and satisfied “I took the one less travelled by and that has made all the difference.” A person’s life can be metaphorically related to a physical journey filled with many twists and turns. Throughout this journey there are instants where choices between alternate paths have to be made - the route a man decides to take is not always an easy one to determine. The fork in the road represents the speaker’s encounter of having to choose from two paths, a direction that will affect his the rest of his life. Frost presents to the reader a moment in anyone’s life where an difficult dubious choice has to be made. There are an abundance of options in life a person faces; Frost symbolises this in the diverging of the two paths in his poem. The decision for which path to choose from can be hard to accept, just as the revelation of the choices.
The imagery in this poem can be taken at face value or examined for a deeper meaning, “yellow wood” has connotations with autumn, which could suggest the ‘Golden Years’ of ones life. The simple word choice interests the reader by not unnecessarily complicating the poem. This is similar for the rhyme and rhythm scheme, which is simple and effective. Throughout the poem the rhyme scheme is ABAAB except for the final stanza where Frost has created emphasis on the last line “And that has made all the difference” by implementing a new scheme ABAAC where the final t
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