Literary Analysis of Robert Frost's The Road not Taken

The Road Not Taken is one of Frost’s most popular and most familiar poems. It is made up of four stanzas of five lines each, and each line has between eight and ten syllables in an iambic rhythm, the lines in each stanza rhyme in an ABAAB pattern. This poem tells the story of a man who is on a walk through a forest and comes upon from in the road, he observes that one that one path is worn one that the other, but decides to take on the more rough and untouched. He then reflects on the future, baling that this course will change the course of his life. He will later look back and reflect on all the changes. This is my favorite poem from this unit largely because of the simplicity of its symbolism: The speaker must choose between diverging paths in a wood, and he sees that choice as a metaphor for choosing between different directions in life. A major universal truth is easily and uniquely presented in way that captivates the audience with its great imagery and simple metaphors.

The most prevalent figure of speech in the poem is the metaphor as the whole poem itself is a large metaphor for the decisions one takes in life. The speaker comes at a cross roads between two roads and debates on which road to take, the roads in this situation represent the decisions a person has to take in life. The roads are also a metaphor for the individualism needed in life. The speaker shows how they went the opposite way as most people on a decision and how that has changed them forever. This metaphor helps the reader become aware that the speaker is expressing individualism and is thinking about how their life would be changed if he chose differently. One time the speaker shows individualism is when they say how they chose where to go. After the traveler reaches the fork, they must decide which one to take. There was one that was worn down and one that was starting to grow wild. 'Then took the other, as just as fair, /and having perhaps the better claim, / because it was grassy and wanted wear'. This part of the poem is describing how the speaker wants to be different from everyone else. The traveler chooses the path or the decision that takes him as far away from everyone else because the path was less traveled. The speaker wanted to be different so they went to opposite way as everyone else and pull of an easy travel.

The main theme of the 'The Road Not Taken' is that it is impossible to see where a major life decision will lead. Because no one knows what the consequences of major life decisions it is better to just do them swiftly and with confidence. It is normal to reflect on what other life could have been obtained if other road, the road not taken, was the road chosen. But to contemplate this hypothetical is deeply unnecessary, for it is impossible to say whether taking the other road would have been better or worse: all one can say is that it would have been different.

Even though this poem was written more than a 100 year ago it still presents ideas that are relevant in today's world. There are many times when we come to a fork in the road of our lives and we must decide which path is best for us. Even though life decisions will have to be made and roads chosen, the road we choose will determine the kind of person we are and the life we will lead. Once choices are made you can't you go and undo them, that is why it is important to think what kind of person you wish to become. You can choose to follow everyones else's lead and go the same path or be different and choose and choose the path no one has taken before. Even then you will always go back and reflect on your past choices wandering what you could have done different. The poem also serves to inform its reader that making a decision is not about shaping your finger and being done with it, it is about knowing what is right for you and what will help you achieve more in life.