Upon your first read of Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken ", you the see the speaker has come to a fork in the road in the woods. The speaker tell us both roads look fair and that he would like to take both, and suggests that one day he might, but knows he can't. So he takes a road, with the thought in mind that one day he can say he took the one less traveled and perhaps is better off for it. Frost's use of imagery, metaphors, and tone in "The Road Not Taken " work together to support the theme and illustrate the universal truth that life is full of hard choice, but people shouldn't regret the road they have taken but enjoy the fact they are able to travel a road at all. .
To begin, Frost's use of imagery in "The Road Not Taken " is essential when trying to understand the theme and meaning behind the poem. The use of visual imagery draws the reader into the poem with the first two lines of stanza one, saying "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both ". (Robert Frost) This draws the reader in and really allows them to feel as if they are standing in the woods at the fork in the road faced with the decision to go left or right. He goes on to give a vivid description of the roads, saying that both look grassy and fair and no leaves had been trodden black. (Frost) Frost uses this form of imagery to support the overall theme of the poem.
Secondly, metaphors are one of the more important literary devices Frost uses to support the main theme of the poem, which is making a choice. Every day we are faced with a choice that must be made. Frost uses an extended metaphor, in this case a road to represent peoples journey through life, and he uses the fork in the road to symbolize the choices that we are faced with along the way. The speaker of the poems choice seems simple; all he has to do is start walking down a road. What makes his decision difficult though is that the roads are seemingly identical.
