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Symbolism in poetry of Robert Frost
Robert Frost poems analysis
Significance and nature of Robert Frost's poetry
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.Nolan Stringfellow D. McGuire English 1123, 315 23 February 2017 Robert Frost Robert Frost is often argued to be the best poet of all time, being that his wonderful dramatic situations came from his experiences with people. Along with the dramatic monologues Frost’s style of writing was coupled with the rhythms of almost actual speed, for example in line 5 in “A Road Not Taken” the narrator states, “To where it bent in the underground; Then took other, just as fair,” this statement is profound being that he is describing the paths of which he can choose. This line is representative of how the narrator is describing what he observes in a sort of conversational perspective and weighing his options. Per Biography.com Frost was born in San …show more content…
“A Road Not Taken” is one of Frost’s most popular works, some critics claim that it is one of the most misunderstood. Many people thing this poem is about the freedom of free thinking and not to follow the masses. Frost stated his intent was to comment about indecision and people finding the meaning in subconscious decisions. This poem has an interesting back story to it, when Frost was in English he sent an envelope to the well-known English critic Edward Thomas under the name “Two Roads.” According to Orr, David. "The Road Not Taken: The Poem Everyone Loves and Everyone Gets Wrong." N.p., 19 Aug. 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2017. Frost was inspired to write the poem by Thomas’s habit of regretting whatever path the pair took during their long walks in the countryside. Frost equated this to “crying over what might have been.” Frost was stated as being frustrated with readers misunderstanding his poem. For one the title of the work, “A Road Not Taken” it is not A Road Less Traveled according to Orr, David. "The Road Not Taken: The Poem Everyone Loves and Everyone Gets Wrong." N.p., 19 Aug. 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.the road not taken, of course, is the road one didn’t take—which means that the title passes over the “less traveled” road the speaker claims to have followed to foreground the road he never tried. Frost’s word choice in this poem make the poem to me come alive. For …show more content…
The poem, like many from Frost’s collection is derived from rural New England. The poem is a narrative poem that talks about an encounter with two neighbors whose property line is marked by a stone wall. One of the neighbors believes that this wall is unnecessary and the other disagrees with him stating, “Good fences make good neighbors.” This to me shows that the man that insist on have the wall does not want to be bothered by any one. Every spring the two walk the properties perimeter and investigate the stone wall, thus rebuilding the wall that the winter has destroyed. Frost to me has an art form of imagery, symbolism and figurative language. One of the imagery the reader notices in line 13, And on a day, we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again,” the wall unites the speaker and his neighbor together, but at the same time keeps them separated. Another line that shows this wall brings the two together once a year, whether they know it or not is line 27, “He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.” In the first encounter the wall or barriers are thought to be a good thing and in the second they are considered bad. Another symbol that is not as present through the poem as the mending wall is nature. Frost doesn’t explicitly describe the landscape, we as the reader can see it very clearly, and the reader seems to know what seasons
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is often misinterpreted. For many years to come, people are going to read this poem by Robert Frost and one of many things will happen. The reader will either misinterpret or misunderstand the poem itself, and its’ sense of irony does not help either.
“The Road Not Taken” is one of Robert Frost’s most familiar and popular poems. It is made up of four stanzas of five lines each, and each line has between eight and ten syllables in a roughly iambic rhythm; the lines in each stanza rhyme in an abaab pattern. The popularity of the poem is largely a result of the simplicity of its symbolism” (Andrews, 2002).... ... middle of paper ... ...478. 479.
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.
Robert Frost masterfully uses straightforward diction and a metaphor in his poem “The Road Not Taken” to portray a speaker who is struggling to make a life changing decision, encouraging both the speaker and the readers towards introspection. Frost dramatizes the internal conflict and consequences involved in making an important decision; an experience all humans face many times in their lives. There will always be times in life when a decision that defines destiny and alters the course, must ultimately be decided. By creating a natural atmosphere, the entire poem emphasizes a metaphor in which a person’s journey through life is compared to a journey on a road. The speaker of the poem is forced to choose one path instead of another, knowing
The Road Not Taken: Poetry Explication Decisions are an everyday part of life. Although many decisions made throughout the day may not be crucial to our path of life, most every decision will affect life in some way. Pop tarts or bagels, milk or orange juice, as well as driving or taking the bus are all choices people make to begin their day, but Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is a perfect example of a life altering decision. Frost wrote this poem when his dear friend, Edward Thomas, was stuck between staying with Frost and becoming a poet, or going to war against Germany in World War I. “Two Roads”, later changed to “The Road Not Taken”, angered Thomas, and caused him to enlist in the war, only to be killed in action two months later at Arras on Easter Day. "
Throughout the poem, you hear nature all around. Frost emphasizes the theme by imagery and personification. He helps us understand some of the lines on
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.
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)
Like a façade, sometimes the surface structure of a poem can be very misleading, and, periodically, one must look deeper into the work in order to grasp its true meaning. Often simple words and phrases are the key to understanding a poem so traditionally studied with one meaning attached to it. As stated before, Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is a poem frequently studied with a traditional insight; however, analyzed and critiqued at a different level this work is actually very ambiguous. Works Cited
Above all, 'The Road Not Taken'; can truly be interpreted through much symbolism as a clear-sighted representation of two fair choices. The two roads in the poem, although, 'diverging,'; lead in different directions. At the beginning they appear to be somewhat similar, but is apparent that miles away they will grow farther and farther away from each other. Similar to many choices faced in life. It is impossible to foresee the consequences of most major decisions we make and it is often necessary to make these decisions based on a little more than examining which choice 'wanted wear.'; In
Robert Frost wrote for the reader to ponder about small choices made and the impact that these choices have later on in life. Written by Robert Frost, the narrative poem “The Road Not Taken” explores the topic of choices. Beginning with a traveler coming upon a fork in a road, the speaker and attempts to decide which path to take. At the end of the poem, after the reader uncovers the truth that the speaker is actually deciding what choice to make. At the end of the poem the speaker explains that the choice that they made after coming upon the fork in the road has made all the difference in the speaker’s life.
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.
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.
The speaker, throughout Robert Frost?s ?The Road Not Taken,? is a way of identifying with the reader through basic human feelings and struggles. Everyone faces hard decisions and feels the struggle within to choose the right path on which to base his or her life. It is how we choose and how we deal with what is down the road that makes us who we are.
Perhaps one of the most well-known poems in modern America is a work by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. This poem consists of four stanzas that depict the story of the narrator traveling through the woods early in the morning and coming upon a fork in the path, where he milled about for a while before deciding upon one of the two paths, wishing he could take both, but knowing otherwise, seeing himself telling of this experience in the future.