Summary Of The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

There have been many exceptional literary figures throughout American history, but very few are as revered as Robert Frost. Frost is considered to be one of the most prominent figures of the modernist period. The modernist period took place during the first half of the twentieth century, and it is characterized by its use of experimentation and belief in individualism (Rahn, 2011). After the death of his father, an eleven-year-old Frost and his family moved to Massachusetts, where he would spend most of his life (“Robert Frost and His Poems,” n.d.). New England is where Frost drew most of his literary inspiration and is the setting for most of his work. After a brief stint at Dartmouth College, Frost returned home, and in 1894 he sold his first

It consists of four stanzas and it is written in iambic tetrameter. The poem is about a man who comes upon a fork in the road with two paths, and the man contemplates which path he will take. Ultimately, he takes the less worn path, the path less traveled. The theme of the poem is choices and the effects that they have on a person 's life. The speaker laments the fact that he cannot travel both paths simultaneously so that he can see the outcome of both, “Two roads diverged in a yellow road / And sorry I could not travel both” (“The Road Not Taken,” 1-2). The speaker goes on to state that, “And looked down one as far as I could” (Frost 4). The speaker gazes down the path so that he may get a glimpse of the outcome of choosing that path; however, it comes to a point that he can see no further. The speaker ultimately chooses the other path and proceeds to walk down it admiring the landscape knowing that he made the right choice for himself. The speaker goes on to reinforce the theme of choice and the outcome that it has on a person’s life, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference” (“The Road Not Taken,” 18-20). The speaker is stating that he took a different route than most people, and this served him best in

It consists of one nine-line stanza writing in an iambic rhyme style. The poem is about the speaker’s preference to how the destruction of the world will come about. The theme of the poem is about the destructive nature of irrational human emotion that is symbolized by fire, and that rational intellect, which is symbolized by ice, can be an equally destructive force also. The poem opens with the speaker relaying common thoughts on how the world will end, “Some say the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice” (“Fire and Ice,” 1-2). He then goes on to tell the reader his personal preference for catastrophe, “From what I’ve tasted of desire / I hold with those who favor fire” (“Fire and Ice,” 3-4). The speaker establishes his preference for his desire that the world will end due to fire. Also, his use of the term “desire” alludes to the irrationality that comes with emotions such as passion, and the destructive force that it can become (“Fire and Ice,” 3). The speaker then uses hyperbole to transition to his next point, “But if it had to perish twice” (“Fire and Ice,” 5). The speaker is stating an impossibility with the destruction of the world twice so that he can elaborate on the destructive force of rational, cold intellect. The speaker ends the poem with his approval of the world’s destruction by ice, “To say that for destruction ice / Is also