Analysis Of The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

In the 18th Century BC, the ancient Sumerian poem Epic of Gilgamesh was written. This marked the start of the long history of poetry. Over time, the art of poetry has developed and evolved to take on a more definite form, with its various different styles, pieces, and forms being named and described. One such form is an allegory. In an allegory, a story has a second meaning that is hidden in the poem, even if it also has a meaning on the surface (Perrine 816). Since many poems are written in figurative language and are supposed to mean more than what they say, it is easy to find an allegorical poem. “The Road Not Taken”, a poem by Robert Frost, is an allegory. Throughout the poem, Frost creates this allegory by using numerous symbols as well

Frost first utilizes many different symbols in pursuit of this allegory. With a series of these symbols similar to an extended metaphor, he constructs a layer of intertwining figurative meanings to go with the story he is telling. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both” (Frost 1-2). Within the first line, Frost has already composed his first symbol, the two roads. This symbol, the first and most important, serves as the foundation from which the rest of the poem is built upon, as well as the figurative meaning of the poem. The two roads stand for a choice in the reader’s life between two options. By choosing one or the other, the one who picked would continue on that road and likely not be able to take the other path. This is shown by the lines, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” (Frost 14-15). However, neither choice is inherently better than the other since each one was worn in about as much as the other. Since the roads are basically equal and neither is obviously better than or

The reader can then understand the real, deeper meaning behind the poem, not just a basic thought that it is about someone having to choose between taking one path or another on a morning stroll. Though the poem is always about a choice, figuring out what the actual choice that Frost is trying to present is the purpose of analyzing “The Road Not Taken”. This is why an allegory is used by the author. He uses it as a tool to layer the other meaning beneath a basic, common choice which insures that a reader who pays close enough attention to the poem will be able to put together the correct figurative meaning. The simple situation on a literal level also makes the basic story of the poem easy to understand, which in turn makes it easy to apply on an allegorical level. If Frost had employed another kind of figurative language, the intended message might have gotten distorted or lost. Thus, an allegory was the correct way to convey his