Literary artists choose to write for all sorts of reasons: to explain, to persuade, to express, and to entertain. Robert Frost’s inspiration to compose poetry can be traced back to his chaotic personal life; he writes to clarify. WIth a life burdened by early failure and family tragedy, Frost sought after and found solace in the “momentary stay against confusion” (Frost) that poetry provided. Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” reflects his sorrowful outlook on his past and provides an excellent example of him attempting to make sense of his disorderly life through poetry.
Frost’s childhood struggles were but a speck of dust in comparison to the tornado of his adulthood. He began exhibiting a lack of commitment to school early on. His mother
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The speaker of the poem is reflecting on an event which cause him or her to make a choice. Literally, he or she was out and about one day and came across a split pathway at which the he or she had to decide which path to take; however, Frost intended for the poem to be interpreted on a deeper level. The reader is expected to place themselves in the mind of the speaker, to take the ambiguous words and apply them to his or her own life. The speaker explains that it is often difficult to determine which choice is best when given options: “Then took the other, as just as fair.” Sometimes the answer in life is not clearly defined. The speaker proceeds to say, with hints of reminiscence or regret in his or her voice, that someday he or she will look back on the decision and sigh. Every aspect of this poem epitomizes Frost’s definition of a poem as a “momentary stay against confusion.” Decisions tend to contribute significantly to stress and complications. Frost used his gift of writing to take all decisions and simplify them into a twenty line poem. He essentially said that the right choice is never clear (otherwise it would not be a choice) and that it is often too late to turn back once a decision is made. Every time a choice is made an entire possible future is eliminated and at that point all a person can do is remember what could have been. What Frost communicated in “The Road Not Taken” is applicable to every choice made in a lifetime. He brilliantly simplified something so troublesome and anxiety provoking into a simple process. That was Frost’s goal throughout his career: to create places of safety and clarity in his poetry in which readers would love to stay. Frost also created comfort in his poetry through the use of formulaic iambic pentameter and predictable rhymes: “And be one traveler, long I stood/And looked down one as long as I could.” Even a
Throughout the poem “The Road Not Taken”, Robert Frost does an excellent job of using literary strategies and device in his poem. Frost uses pathos in this poem to appeal to the reader’s feelings. He uses many symbols, to make the reader think about the poem on a deeper level and really connect to it. The poem used excellent imagery to help relay the internal message from Frost to the reader. An overall view of his poem, would be a great work. He uses a variety of things throughout his poem to help make it an easier read. Making it easier to read, will also make it more enjoyable to the
Have you ever been faced with two important decisions? Life is full of options and when when you encounter two decisions you have to choose what path you are going to take. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” represents two tough decisions and having to choose one and not the other. Robert Frost uses a few poetic devices, such as, metaphor, symbolism and vivid imagery to express and show the decisions we make in life. These poetic devices also help Robert Frost get his point across about the roads.
The movie, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, released in 2012, is based on the book written by Stephen Chbosky, which was originally published in 1999. The book is all about the main character, Charlie, as he deals with his first year in high school, after the tragic death of his Aunt Helen. The movie opens with Charlie writing in a journal, which is a part of his therapy for the mental illness he suffers from on account of his Aunt 's death. The past year or so before this, Charlie had been suffering from memories and flashbacks of the way his Aunt died in a car accident. He is hopeful that high school will bring new things for him, but after the first day, is disappointed after the bullying and neglect he finds from other students. Things
Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, is a descriptive poem about a person’s conflict with the right path to take throughout life. The choice that this person makes can affect him forever. There are lots of choices like this throughout a person’s life that are made that piece together the future. What they do with these choices and the decisions they make are up to them. Although the narrator of this poem is faced with a dilemma, he still makes the best decision possible and takes the best road, which happens to be one that no one else has chosen to take.
“The Road Not Taken” ends by giving a moral to us about Frost’s life and the path he did take. Although Frost doesn’t thoroughly explain the path he took, the reader ...
Sam physically exposes Charlie to new experiences that change him into a more confident person. At the start of the school year Charlie is an anti-social and introverted freshman who is reluctant and unsure of himself. He enters high school with no friends, but soon becomes friends with a small group of seniors, most importantly Sam, that influence him to become a stronger individual. Sam introduces him to many new things that he never would have experienced before. For example, drugs, alcohol, love, sexuality, parties and relationships change Charlie into an more confident person by breaking him out if his comfort zone. Sam plays a huge role in his development from being easily influenced to making decisions for himself. Sam motivates him to explore a new side of life and he realizes that life needs to be lived and not watched. Charlie grows from being someone who sits by and watches life to a person who fully participates in life. Charlie begins to develop and mature as his character is faced with unfamiliar situations that take him out of his s...
In “The Road Not Taken” Frost emphasizes that every person is a traveler choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey-life. There is never a straight path that leads a person one sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, “The Road Not Taken” has left me with many different interpretations. Throughout this poem, it is obvious that decisions are not easy to make and each decision will lead you down a different path.
Robert Frost utilizes several poetic techniques to reveal the theme in his poem, “The Road Not Taken”, which is stressing the importance the decision making of one is, regardless of whether or not it is agreement with the resolution of their peers, and how it can affect their future. The techniques exercised in this piece of work are symbolism, imagery, and tone. Symbolism is the most powerfully used technique due to the fact a good number of lines located in this poem is used to signify a certain object or idea related to our life or today’s world. Imagery is significant in drawing out the theme for the reason that it allows the reader to construct a depiction in their mind, permitting them to relate more to the poem and interpret the theme their own way. In this poem, imagery permits the reader to imagine the scene that this poem takes place in resulting in an enhanced understanding of the theme. The tone this work presents is an insecure attitude which allows the theme to be brought out due to the fact the theme relates to a dilemma in one’s life. As seen by the reader, these techniques strongly aid in the revealing of this specific theme. The first technique Frost utilizes to uncover the theme is the strongest method, symbolism.
...ird grade after much testing. His younger sister enters fourth in this year as well. In late 1886, Frost's family moves to Salem Depot, New Hampshire. Frost and his younger sister enter the fifth grade together here. He passes the entrance exam for Lawrence High in June of 1888 and enrolls in the classical program. He graduates in 1889 at the head of his class.
In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, Frost shows the everyday human struggle to make a choice that could change the course of one’s life. In his poem, a person has the choice to take one road or the other. One road is worn out from many people taking it, and the other is barely touched, for fewer have taken that road. Throughout the poem, the speaker learns that just because so many other people have done one thing, or walked one way, does not mean everyone has to. Sometimes you just have to go your own way.
Charlie’s confidence grows in his exposure to new music, new friendships and fun. Eventually, he falls in love with Sam. When Charlie is happy and with his friends, he’s fun and
David Wyatt writes, "Nowhere in Frost is the tension between surprise and anticipation, wayward experience and the form into which it is cast or forecast, more acute than in 'The Road Not Taken'" (129). As the poem is read, one cannot help but be pulled into the questions of which road will be chosen, how they differ, and what will become of the traveler. Perhaps some hope to find guidance for their own journeys by seeking answers in Frost's work. According to Michael Meyer, "The speaker's reflections about his choice are as central to an understanding of the poem as the choice itself." (97) Frost himself admits, "it's a tricky poem, very tricky." (Pack 10)
There is simply the path one chooses and the path not chosen. Frost ends this poem ironically with the line “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” With this line Frost is showing the misconception that most people make after they’ve made a choice. Individuals often look back at their lives, the choices they’ve made, and assure themselves that their decisions have also made all the difference. Reading the poem we, as the reader, know that he didn’t choose the road less traveled by.
In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, author Robert Frost uses the simple image of a road to represent a person’s journey through life. A well-established poet, Frost does a proficient job of transforming a seemingly common road to one of great importance, which along the way helps one identify who they really are. This poem is one of self-discovery. Frost incorporates strong elements of poetry such as theme, symbolism, rhyme scheme, diction, imagery, and tone to help create one of his most well known pieces about the human experience.
There are many choices that one needs to make on a daily basis to simply get through the day. Life choices however are more important and have an everlasting effect on the individual. They are less frequent but have more of an impact on one’s life. The writer Robert Frost chose to use the poem “The Road not Taken” to show how one’s decisions can change the outcome of your life. Frost used the details of picking the road, the inability to reverse his choice, the consequences of his judgment, along with the external factors that influenced his judgments to express to the readers how life’s decisions make a difference all by writing a poem.