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Choices seen as roads that appear to be the same are more clear because they allow us to understand that many choices in life are not black and white but gray. Regardless of that, we still must decide which way to go. The literal forest with its paths represents life and the seemingly unimportant choices we make everyday.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAAB and it is made up of four stanzas with five lines in each stanza. Every line of the poem has nine syllables and the scansion of the poem is four feet per line. Frost employs the technique of sound in "The Road Not Taken." Alliteration appears with the words yellow, travel, and traveler and grassy and passing. Assonance appears with many of the rhymes, including wood, could, stood, lay, day, way, sigh, and by. Frost uses these literary techniques to convey a difficult issue through the delicacy of poetry.
The poem is intended as advice because once we make a choice we can never go back and we are doing well to never look back in regret but instead remain confident. In addition, we should never be inclined to take the easy road just because it looks easy. The poet admits that he took the path that was "grassy and wanted wear" (8), indicating that the less traveled path...
Our paths make us who we are and the poet believes he made the best choice. The last stanza might be ambiguous, but it is not pessimistic.
The poet writes:
shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- took the one less traveled by. (16-20)
While the poet could not know what the other path might have brought him, he does not regret the choice he made. This last stanza reveals that the poet is positive and curious.
Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," is all about choices and how our choices shape who we are and who we become. We cannot know where all roads lead and the best we can do is decide and make the best of that decision. We can look back with wonder without being filled with regret but the most important thing is remaining confident in our choices. The poet helps us understand that our choices do not control us and that we can make the best of them with the right frame of mind, which does make all the difference in the world.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." Robert Frost's Poems. New York: Washington Square Press. 1971.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." Robert Frost's Poems. New York: Washington Square Press. 1971.
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