Robert Frost Diction

Robert Frost, an exceedingly known and famous American poet of the 20th century, is often quoted in day-to-day life and recognized for his creative state of mind. Of all his poetic elements, Frost's style seems to be the hardest to pin down. Certainly, essential elements of Frost's style is his choice of words or diction, his use of everyday words that are used in conversation, and the way he writes his sentences with rhythm to enhance their beauty. In addition, he also uses many poetic devices adding to the craftsmanship of his poems. Due to his unique style of writing, one of his illustrious poems, “The Road Not Taken”, is often misinterpreted or misused. The title alone catches the reader’s attention, but it, too, is often misinterpreted.

Therefore, the real connection between the poem and its title is lost. To completely grasp the real connection between the poem and its title, one needs to understand what the title is not about, what the title truly is about, and what the title suggests about one of the themes.
By connecting the poem and its title, it is immensely crucial to understand what the poem is not about, regardless of the countless different ways people interpret this poem.

In doing so, this helps the reader better understand the connection between the poem and the title. For decades now, people have used the last lines of “The Road Not Taken” as their anthem of independence, uniqueness, and taking rare roads that others do not take. Truth be told, though, that is not what the poem is about at all. In fact, it is quite the opposite. And this poem, when read in its entirety, is far more complex and intriguing when it is understood. Therefore, the title of this poem may be the key to its true interpretation. The title is not, as it is often mistaken to be, "The Road Less Traveled", but is "The Road Not Taken". If the title were "The Road Less Traveled", the poem would have a stranger focus on nonconformity, or taking the path that others do not take. But the title, "The Road Not Taken" connects the poem to its title by lost opportunities, or more directly, the road that the speaker did not

take.
As stated before, “The Road Not Taken” connects the poem to its title by lost opportunities, which leads into what the title truly is about. The message that this poem truly elaborates on is that the speaker took a road. It could have been the other road, but he chose that specific one. “Somewhere ages and ages hence”, he will say that it was this choice, in that moment, to take that particular road that made his life superior, but in fact, both roads were not tremendously different from one another at all. Therefore, his life might have been different if he had taken the other road, and at the end of the poem, the speaker begins to wonder what his life could have looked like if he had taken that other road. That is how the poem, again, connects to the title. Furthermore, since the final stanza is from the perspective of the speaker telling the story in the future, he is changing his story in order to add an emphasis on either satisfaction or regret. The part of the poem that is often skipped over and actually connects the poem to its title is when the speaker is found “telling this with a sigh”. It is almost as if no matter what road he went on, he would still feel sorrowful that he did not go the other. This suggests that this is a poem of regret rather than satisfaction, which connects the poem to its title by knowing what the title is truly about.
Along with regret, the poem can also be connected to its title by the suggestion that the title makes about another theme; absence.

Indeed, the title of the poem hovers over the theme like a ghost: “The Road Not Taken.” According to the title, this poem is about absence. It is about what the poem never mentions: the choice the speaker did not make, which seems to still haunt him. The speaker claims that his decision has made “all the difference”, but the word difference itself conveys no sense of whether this choice made the speaker’s life better or worse. Perhaps, he could be envisioning an alternate version of life, one full of the imagined pleasures the other road would have offered. With this being said, knowing the suggestion that the title makes about the theme of absence, the reader can easily connect the poem to its

title.
In conclusion, one still cannot tell, ultimately, whether the speaker is pleased with his choice or not. But, that is the beauty of Frost’s poems. With his unique and poetic style, he gives the reader clues all throughout the poem, gives his own insight, and then gives the reader the freedom to decide what the poem is truly about. Although “The Road Not Taken” is often misinterpreted and misused, understanding what the title is not about, what the title truly is about, and what the title suggests about one of the themes are all three ways to connect the poem to its title. Frost could not have chosen a greater title for this poem, and he did a magnificent job at connect the poem to its title.