Name:

Course:

Tutor:

Date of Submission:

Poetry Analysis.

1. Introduction.

The lines “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/And sorry I could not travel both” introduces the lyrical poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. Published in 1916, the poem is set in the woods at an undisclosed location. The narrator has been traveling through the woods when they come across a folk on the road. The traveler comes across a fork on the road and stands there for a long time trying to figure out the better one of the two roads to travel by. The narrator examines one of the roads trying to see where it leads but their vision is limited since the road bends into the undergrowth. The narrator decides to take the other road which they think it is equally better, but with a grassier terrain. The narrator further explains that the two roads were not much different as they were worn almost similarly. In addition, it seemed that in that morning nobody had traveled by either of the road since the leaves had not been trodden as seen by their lack of change in color.

Despite having made a decision, the narrator stills express dissatisfaction and they express a wish to come back one day and travel by the other road. However, the narrator quickly acknowledges the reality that they may never get a chance to ever come back since the road that they chose to travel by will lead to another road and then to another such that it would be impossible for them to go back. In the concluding stanza, the narrator makes an expression into the future, saying that after ages and ages, they will be telling about the road they took but with a sigh. At that point in future, the narrator will tell that the road they took was the less traveled one and that it made all the difference in their life. The narrative poem seems to be a figurative representation of a real-life situation particularly in regard to making life choices. To achieve this representation, Robert Frost successfully makes use of various poetic conventions as seen in their choice of language, form, tone and literal philosophy. To better understand the poem and its relation to day to day life, it is essential to take the poem apart and explore how the poet makes use of figurative languages such as metaphors, imagery, symbolism and other literary devices such as form, tone, and diction to pass their message across. In addition, it is critical to explore the conflicting philosophy that is being passed across by the poem and the applicability of the poem in guiding real life situations.

3. Form.

The poem makes a photographic depiction of a moment of a lone traveler in the woods. The poem is a narrative consisting of four stanzas of four lines each. It follows a loose iambic tetrameter metric with four beat lines with an alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. The syllabic alternation creates a natural conversational tone that is effective in expressing the journeying narrative. The poem employs an ABAAB rhyme scheme rather than a regular ABAB, with the second and the fifth line rhyming while the first line rhymes with the third and the fourth lines. The A rhyme introduced in the third line of every stanza creates or evokes a feeling of indecision or hesitancy that is consistent with the poem’s primary theme.

4. Narrator/Tone

The narrator in the poem is a persona who is a lone traveler through whom the poet communicates. Frost’s biography describes the persona as a person that consistently and habitually regrets all the choices they make and keeps mourning the opportunities forgone in the other choice that they never made. Robert frost produces the poem in 1916 after spending four years in England from 1912 to 1915 where he met his friend Edward Thomas. Several times, before reading the poem, Frost suggested that the narrator was based on the character of Edward Thomas. Whenever Frost and Thomas went for a walk in the woods, they would come across a fork on the road and if they followed a certain path and found it less amusing, Thomas would keep lamenting why they never chose the other path. However, on reading Frost’s biography, he is depicted as a loner that had a coarse and strained relationship with almost everyone including heir family. To some extent, therefore, the poem reflects on the life of Frost as the lone traveler that liked being alone and chose a path of nonconformity by choosing a less popular career in poetry.

5. Conflict of Philosophy.

The poem is a representation of life situations in which one is supposed to make a life changing decision from two conflicting choices. Many people would view the representation in the poem as a choice between a good path and a better path. Majority of the readers of the do apply the poem to represent situations in which people must make important career choices by choosing to follow their own path or following the multitude. But the depiction of the poet is arguably different. The poet uses poetic conventions to show that it is never a choice between good or bad but rather a choice between two choices of equal value and importance. The poet shows that the two paths are not much different but they may have different endings. The poet therefore succeeds in showing that regardless of the path that one chooses, the choice is inevitable and the future unpredictable.

6. Sequence of Ideas.

At the beginning of the poem, the poet is torn between taking one of the two paths at a fork on the road that symbolically represents the journey of life. The poet is unsure of the right path and they try to explore and see if they could identify where the two roads were headed. The poet thinks that at least a glimpse into the future would help in making the right decision. But the poet could only see so far since at some point the road bent into the undergrowth. In life, the future can only be explored to a limited extent and looking farther one can only see darkness representing uncertainty and the unknown. But the narrator cannot stay at the fork forever and they need to make a decision and move on. Regardless of all the uncertainties that life present and the diversity of life choices, one must make a decision and move on to the next phase of life.

On identifying that the extent of the first road is unpredictable, the narrator turns to the other road with the hope that it would be better than the first one and that its extent would be explored easily. However, they realize that indeed the two roads were almost similar and the extent of the second road was also unknown. The narrator states that “Though as for that the passing there/Had worn them really about the same” (Line 9 & 10). The narrator however tries to justify their choice of the road by stating that “Then took the other, as just as fair/And having perhaps the better claim/Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (Lines 6, 7 &8). It represents the nature of human beings that fail to support their decisions and they always express skepticism and second guesses. But the narrator is now aware of the fact that the two paths are the same and that it does matter which of the two they choose to travel by.

The narrator’s conclusion is that they chose to travel by the path that they thought was the better of two available. Although the extent of the path was unknown, the narrator is confident that the successful they obtained was due to their choice of the less travelled by path. The narrator states that “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” (Lines 16 to 20). The main idea is that the diversity presented at the initial stage of the road is always replicated at the endings. The narrator will be telling the story with a sigh signifying that despite the path leading to success, the journey was not an easy one. Any of the road that the narrator would have chosen could have led to diverse endings and diverse fortunes.

7. Conclusion.

In conclusion, the use of figurative language and other poetic conventions in poetry is crucial in representing the real-life lessons in the mind of the poet. Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” is a representation of the journey of life whereby one is required to make life-changing decisions that will steer the course of the next phase of life. That journey of life is metaphorically represented by the road while the fork represents the various choices one is presented with. In addition to metaphors, the yellow color in the vegetation is symbolically used to represent the autumn or the later phases of one’s life. It means that the most difficult decisions in life have to be made at some point, and then there are many more decisions that will present themselves. But on arriving into the future, one should stop and wonder whether they will give the story of their past with a sigh of relief, sadness, joy or discontentment. The poem presents an important message that serves as lesson for the people that are presented with difficult life choices. That regardless of the path one takes in life, there are many challenges that they will face but they will surely achieve at the end.

Works Cited

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. (2018). Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 22 November 2018, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken