2. CONTEXT
POEM
SUMMARY
ANALYSIS
THEMES
SYMBOLS & POETIC DEVICES
FORM, METER & RHYME SCHEME
LITERARY AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
ROBERT FROST – THE ROAD NOT TAKEN 15 June 2023 2
3. THE ROAD
NOT
TAKEN
Narrative poem
Publication – 1915 August issue of The Atlantic
Monthly
Published as 1st poem in Mountain Interval
poetry collection in 1916.
It is a 20 line poem
4. POEM – 1ST STANZA
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
SUMMARY – 1ST STANZA
In a forest where the leaves
turned yellow in autumn, the
speaker halts in front of a fork
road.
Regrets he can’t take both roads
and stands there thinking about
which road to take.
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5. POEM – 2ND STANZA
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
SUMMARY - 2ND STANZA
The speaker takes the second
path as it seems more greener
and less taken path.
But, he couldn’t conclude which
one is frequently used, as both
looks the same.
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6. POEM – 3RD STANZA
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
SUMMARY - 3RD STANZA
He exclaims that both roads are
green.
He states that he is saving the first
route for future purpose.
Later, contradicts his words by
saying that one road leads to many
paths in life and it will be difficult to
come across the first route again in
life.
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7. POEM – 4TH STANZA
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
SUMMARY – 4TH STANZA
The speaker imagines himself in
distant future – looking back at his
decision of choosing the less
travelled path.
He thinks that the decision of
choosing 2nd route made all the
difference in his life.
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8. ANALYSIS
• The ‘ambiguity’ in the poem – allows interpretation in many ways.
• Simple interpretation – ‘Following ones own path’
• In-depth analysis – Irony intended in the lines.
Whichever way one chooses, they are going to miss the other way.
If we want to achieve something, we should lose something.
• The 1st stanza starts with the speaker’s ‘regret’/ ‘sorrow’ for his inability to explore both
roads.
• In the last stanza, the ‘sigh’ of the author might be joy or regret, for choosing the second
route on the woods.
• The difference that it made, either be good or bad; it is up to the interpretation of the reader.
• SETTING – in the forest at autumn; in front of fork roads – both inside the speaker’s
mind, as he is recalling the event.
- in distant future.
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9. ROBERT FROST – THE ROAD NOT TAKEN 15 June 2023 9
THEMES
CHOICES AND UNCERTAINITY:
• Life is full of choices
• One is forced to choose in life.
• The paths in front of the speaker are bent, so he couldn’t see what is ahead of it. So as the life
of humans, one have to take decisions without what is going to happen in the future.
• The choice is in our hands—so the consequences too.
• Every choice is a beginning; but also the ending of knowledge about other option.
10. • INDIVIDUALISM AND NONCONFORMITY:
• There are two kinds of life choices – conventional and unconventional.
• The speaker, by taking the less explored route, he chooses the unconventional one.
• This shows he values individualism over conformity.
• By saying that the 2nd route is grassy, it shows its nonconformity value; but in a positive way by
adding ‘wanted wear’ – (as if the grass is asking the speaker to walk on it)
• Popularity makes things non-appealing. The nonconformity of the 2nd route is attractive.
• The effort made to go on the less travelled path made the ‘difference’ in speaker’s life.
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THEMES
11. SYMBOLS
SYMBOLS
Diverging roads –
Symbolizes life’s choices
The impossibility of predicting where one's life choices will lead.
The road less travelled –
Symbolizes the path of nonconformity
He has led a life of nonconformity, and is happier (assumption) because of the consequences of
choosing that road.
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12. POETIC DEVICES
• Extended metaphor
- choice of roads * choices in human life
- the bend in road didn’t let the speaker
see ahead * humans cannot see the future.
• Symbolism
- the road represents the journey of life
• Personification
- ‘wanted wear’ – as if the path is asking
the speaker to walk on it.
• Simile
- ‘as just fair as’ – both roads are
compared here.
• Imagery
- the speaker says that the roads lay
equal with none of the leaves turned black by the
footsteps of a passer-by.
• Enjambment
- a line continues to another line without
punctuation.
• Alliteration
- repetition of consonant sounds in the
beginning of words
-Then took the other, as just as fair, - ‘d’ sound
-Oh, I kept the first for another day! – ‘f’ sound
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13. FORM, METER, RHYME SCHEME
FORM
• Formal verse – it rhymes and have strict meter
• 20 lines with 4 quintains – (quintains are five-line stanzas)
METER
• Iambic tetrameter (Iambic – unstressed-stressed; Tetrameter – 4 syllables; Each line has 8 syllables)
RHYME SCHEME
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, A
And sorry I could not travel both B
And be one traveler, long I stood A
And looked down one as far as I could A
To where it bent in the undergrowth; B
ABAAB – rhyme scheme
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14. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• "The Road Not Taken" takes place in a pastoral setting - the characters' actions take on symbolic
significance to illustrate some general truth about human life.
• Frost was influenced by 19th-century Romantic poets; but he made his poems feel distinctly modern
with use of colloquial and everyday speech.
• Frost got inspiration to write this poem from his friend Edward Thomas. When they both took a walk
in England woods, one day they came across two paths.
• Thomas lamented about not taking the other path for sometime. This inspired Frost to write the
poem.
Another Perspective -
It was the beginning of World War I and Frost flew back to America.
He wrote this poem thinking about the choice he made during crisis time.
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15. ABOUT THE POET
• Poet – Robert Frost
• American poet
• 1874 – 1963
• Only poet to receive 4 Pulitzer prizes for poetry
• Frost was one of "the major American poets“
• Skilled at representing a wide range of human experience in his poems
• Frost was interested in showing the human reaction to nature's processes.
• Frost's narrative, character-based poems are often satirical, and has a
"sympathetic humour" towards his subjects.
PRESENTATION TITLEROBERT FROST – THE ROAD NOT TAKEN 15 June 2023 15
