The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is about making a difficult decision between two paths that will impact one's life. In the poem, a traveler comes to a forked road in the woods and must choose which path to take. While both paths appear equally fair, the traveler can only take one, leaving the other for another day. However, he realizes that choosing one path means the other will never be taken, representing how decisions are impossible to undo and permanently shape one's life journey. The poem uses nature and the metaphor of diverging paths in the woods to symbolize important life choices and the uncertainty involved in making decisions that determine one's future course.

1. The Road Not Taken
The Road Not Taken By: Robert Frost Imagine that your making a decision and you are stuck to
choose between two things that could change and impact your life greatly. What would you do?
What pathway would you take? Robert Frost wrote 'The Road Not Taken' in 1916 at the age of
42 in New England, Massachusetts. 'The Road Not Taken' is one of his most popular works due
to the ideology of choices that people would have to face in their life. In the early 20th century,
Robert Frost based the majority of his poems from rural life in New England, where he grew up.
Robert Frost was highly regarded for his deep, realistic understanding of rural life and using
elaborate social and philosophical themes in his works. This poem explores a...show more content...
For the second stanza, the traveller is describing that both pathways are equally the same through
the used of extended metaphors, personification and metaphors. On third stanza, the poet is
providing additional information on the season by "And both that morning equally lay, in leaves
no step had trodden black". This imagery of the season autumn symbolises the perfect layers of
yellow leaves on the path as for a long period of time no one has walked on it yet. On third line,
onomatopoeia was used which is "oh" that illustrates an emphatic tone for the decision that he
made. The traveller is now regretting the decision that he made. On the last two lines, an
extended metaphor was used, "Yet knowing how way leads on to way", "I doubted if I should
ever come back". These last two lines of the third stanza, heightens the attention of readers that he
hopes that he could try the other path as the traveller knows 'how one road can lead to another'.
Also, the traveller is having doubts as it is impossible to retrace steps as other choices or
decisions can lead to other options in life. The third stanza raises the awareness to readers as he
decided to stick with the decision that he made but still with a bit of regrets. The last stanza, Robert
Frost uses a number of poetic techniques, in order to demonstrate the fear and regrets as he already
made which path to go and now, there's no turning back. In the first line onomatopoeia was used and
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2. The Road Not Taken
In life, we are often faced with tough challenges and decisions to make. In the poem, "The Road
Not Taken", by Robert Frost, He demonstrates how the way one handles major difficult decisions,
affects the outcome of life. The poem consists of 4 stanzas which each have a slightly different
purpose to the poem; however, the first and second stanzas both have the same effect.
Firstly, in the first stanza, Frost describes standing at an open road that splits into two separate
paths: "two roads diverged in a yellow wood". He goes on to say how he wishes we could try
going down both paths to see where each ones leads. The two paths represent two different ways
he could go about living his life. When he says: "And I looked down one as far as I could" he's
referring to how he tried his best to find all the pros and cons of one of the two possible options.
In the second stanza, Frost decides now to look on at the other path, or to consider the second
option he has: "Then took the other, as just as fair". The words "perhaps having the better claim,
because it was grassy and wanted wear could mean a choice that wasn't exactly normal, or made
much sense but he wanted to pursue it anyways. These stanzas present the readers with the situation
and bring out the idea of having a tough decision to make, which links to the first half of the theme.
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He realizes that either paths, or decisions, have an equal amount of pros and cons, therefore are
about the same: "And both that morning equally lay". He then reveals that he wants to come back
and take the other path someday: "Oh, I kept the first for another day!" But shortly thereafter
realizes that it probably won't be possible to come back. Because usually one path leads to another
and eventually, it ends up being too far in the past to go back to where everything
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3. The Road Not Taken
The most common interpretation of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is that the speaker is
trying to decide which road to take. Does he want to take the road that everyone else takes
because it is easier and all the clearing has been done for him, or does he want to take a chance
and take the road less traveled and he has to clear his own path? The poet is trying to convey a
much deeper meaning. The poem is an excellent example of the use of symbolism .The poet uses
the two roads to symbolize choices made in life. The yellow road indicates that the poem is taking
place in autumn, which denotes that the speaker is in the later years of his life. The use of these
simple images emphasizes that no matter how simple or unimportant a choice may...show more
content...
Nature in this poem sets the scene and can hold a metaphorical meaning as well. "TWO roads
diverged in a yellow wood," (line 1) sets the scene, the speaker tells the reader the woods are
yellow, so we can conclude that the poem is taking place in autumn. This could be a metaphor for
the time in the speaker's life that he is making this decision. The fall of his life when he is
beginning to get old." To where it bent in the undergrowth;" (line 5), the reader finds out the woods
must be pretty thick, because the road can disappear in the undergrowth, could represent an aspect of
the speaker's future that he is unsure of." And having perhaps the better claim,/Because it was grassy
and wanted wear"(lines 7–8) the speaker is bias in favor of nature, he thinks one path may be better
than the other because fewer people have worn it down. These lines are a metaphor for a decision
that is less commonly made." And both that morning equally lay/in leaves no step had trodden black,
(lines 11–12) here the reader sees autumn images continue. It appears that it is morning time. There
is a contradiction to an earlier claim that one path is less traveled. The lines tell the reader the
leaves have just fallen masking that the path was more or less traveled. Metaphorically this points
out there is ultimately no way to tell which choice is
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