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Robert Frost - Choosing One of Two Roads

            Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken " and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,"" are poems that both describe decisions or choices of life. "The Road Not Taken"" is about a man experiencing life and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is about a man wearied and saddened by life. In both poems the speaker has to choose between two paths in life. He used symbolism, figurative language, and sound in several of ways in both of his poems.
             The road symbolizes the choices he has to make in his life. In the poem, "The Road Not Taken"," the speaker has to make a huge choice in his life. The poem is about a person who comes across a fork in the road and he has to choose which way to follow. He thinks long and hard about which road he wants to take. He says, "And looked down as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth" (4-5). He looks down both paths and after giving it much thought he chooses the road less traveled by. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"" the journey in the woods symbolizes a life journey. The speaker has a choice to stay in the woods or to move on to where he is going. As they make a stop on the darkest evening of the year in the snowy woods, the horse gives his bells a shake because he is not certain as to why they have stopped where no farmhouse is near. He knows that he has to go but still contemplate on staying in the woods. Likewise, both poems have a big decision making process about which road would be better for them to take. .
             The road and life are being compared as a metaphor in the poem "A Road Not Taken."" It implies a difficult choice in a person's life that could offer him an easy or hard way out. He does not know what will happen with either road that he chooses. It is risky making up his mind about which way to choose because that is the first step of heading into success or failure in life. The man in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"" is a metaphor.


Essays Related to Robert Frost - Choosing One of Two Roads

1. Robert Frost and The Road Not Taken

... filled with metaphors. "The Road Not Taken" is a metaphor for life and its decisions. He also compares roads to paths people take in life. Metaphors helped this poem become more exciting. It helped the poem become more unique. Some of the metaphors he used were: "Because it was grassy and wanted wear," "Had worn them really about ... been a big problem, particularly with the bad choices. However, in this poem, Frost implies that he had made the decision by himself with the help of no one else. One of the reason's it made it much harder for him is because he was double minded and doubted...

  • Word Count: 1163
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Robert Frost

... of his life. The repetition of wear of the roads signals that the speakers is weighing which road to take carefully, but is unable to decide. Then as Frost shows to readers, the speaker is looking for the best route by searching deep into the "undergrowth." "Frost presents a classic conflict-the decision between the common easy path and the exceptional challenging path" (Choice are never easy). Choosing ... himself and his ironies too subtly," (Robert Frost and a Poetics of Appetite) so that the poem is, in effect, a failure, Kearns replies with, "If the Poem is indeed informed by such lo...

  • Word Count: 2122
  • Approx Pages: 8
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3. Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken

... ," Robert Frost describes the decision one makes when reaching a fork in the road. Some interpret Frost as suggesting regret on the part of the traveler as to not choosing the path he forgoes, for in doing so he has lost something significant. Others believe he is grateful for the selection, as it has made him the man he is. The diverging roads are symbolic of the decisions ... lies with each individual, upon reflecting on their personal choices during the course of life's unfolding, as well as the attitude one manifests towards the future. In the first stanza Frost writes: Two roads div...

  • Word Count: 951
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken

Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, "The Road Not Taken," has left its readers with many different interpretations. It is one's past, present and the attitude with which he ... light that he will see the poem in. In any case however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost's belief that it is the road that one chooses that makes him the man who he is. Frost u...

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5. Choosing a Path - The Poetry of Robert Frost

Robert Frost is famous for his ability to ask the reader about their life with the use of simplistic words. Frost does this by using the poetic technique of duality. Duality is the contraction of two opposite qualities; for example light and dark or left and right are two dualities. Along with the use of dualities throughout his poetry, Robert Frost uses nature to make his poetry to connect dualities with symbols that ordinary people can relate to. In Robert Frost's Poems "Fires and Ice", "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" Frost asks deep questions about the reader...

  • Word Count: 1771
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6. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

... 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 ... will behold down the road. Both roads diverge into a "yellow wood" and appear to be "about the same" in their purpose. The fi...

  • Word Count: 1117
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Robert Frost

... many of his poems, Robert Frost uses images of and nature, especially trees and forests, to convey his thoughts and emotions. The turning of the seasons, a wooded area, and other things common in nature, were also common in Frosts poems. Many people attest this to his working as a farmer on an old New England farm for part of his ... have a lake, and the dark night sky. The next stanza mentions sounds, and how the only two he hears are his horses" reigns, and the sweep of the wind brushing the snow. "The only other sounds the sweep/ Of easy wind and downy flake" (807) And finally, he mak...

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8. Frost

... total, freedom. In these "early" years, Frost was concerned with perfecting what he termed "the sound of sense." This was a description, in words, of raw sensory perception. I would also like to stress that Robert Frost was very, very popular--superstar popular. By the end of his life he had achieved the iconic status of living legend. For Frost, poetry and life were one and the same thing. In an ... has to do with life, choices we have to make and consequences to those decisions. One of the attractions of the poem is its typical dilemma, one that we instantly recognize because each of ...

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9. A study of 3 poems

... you find outstanding in their capacity to uplift and inspire through evoking positive emotional responses. By using a minimum of two hundred words for each describe how they achieve this effect. Introduction - Choice I am unable to continue this assignment without remarking on the difficult task of choosing three poems for it. I thought about it all morning and decided to list all the poems I could think ... of in the afternoon. There were a lot but I worried that some were missing. However, the parameters were set. I then removed from the ... to us. Rather than be prisoners of time we...

  • Word Count: 1553
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  • Grade Level: High School

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