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"The Road Not taken
Literary criticism about robert frost
Robert frost poetry analysis
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The Road Not Taken
I. Introduction
Robert Frost, (born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died January 29, 1963, Boston, Massachusetts), American poet who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations. Frost succeeded in lodging more than a few poems where, as he put it, they would be “hard to get rid of,” among them “The Road Not Taken” (published in 1915, with its meaning disputed ever since). He can be said to have lodged himself just as solidly in the affections of his fellow Americans. . A short outline of Robert Frost's poem on "The Road Not Taken" is literature that recounts a story about a traveler who communicates two roads in the woods. This extraordinary writing was composed during his mountain interlude. These two roads are not intertwined, however, that leads to two different directions and goals. Frost’s describes these roads as, "one street
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was not prominently traveled, one fair, and one worn". Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken", is a poem that forms the negative tone which is a photographic picture of the depraved and good decisions people make every day demonstrated through a metaphor, allegory, and kinesthetic symbolism. II. Imaginary The author concedes possibility some time or perhaps at another time, the traveler can travel the other road.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference . The two roads diverge in a yellow wood describes the road goes into two separate directions and yellow symbolize hope, happiness, intellect and cautious; likewise, it symbolizes autumn . Frost’s writing consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the author communicates how he desired to travel both roads. He could not view one road from a distance. Second stanza, Frost’s shares the condition of one road and affirms as a grassier and not worn out. The vision image is based on the principle many execute “The grass looks greener until you travel the road”. The third stanza, Frost’s reminds his readers the decisions one make can take them back to their original choice. The decisions one makes today will mirror their
tomorrow. III. Figuratively The figurative roads are metaphor, that awakens his readers to the reality and the choices he confronted. The yellow wood reminds us two great points and they are: (1) it was autumn and (2) life decision. Frost’s put it in such profound way, and he states, “And be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could (3-4)” and “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by” (18-19). The roads signify life journeys are produced by humanity choices. Frost’s reminds us everyday life gives choices will bring results based on implementing good or bad decisions. The choices we make the lead up to actual experiences. It is one thing to decide to climb a mountain. It is quite another to be on top of it . IV. Conclusions Frost’s writing on “The Road Not Taken” gives us an illustration of how life choices can give us hope, happiness, peace and as well making choices with great caution. Christ gives us wisdom and grace which allow a man to make good choices in life and it will lead to a place of life betterment. Since the ancient of days, generations have made great choices and upon making bad choices, man must get on the path of the other road. Deuteronomy 30:15 says it best, “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil ”.
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost shows the reader how the choices they make will be hard decisions and will follow them. The setting of this poem takes place in the woods, in the fall. The woods will typically be a quiet and serene place making the setting an ideal place for decision making. The setting also helps to show the symbolism that Frost shows by describing the two paths. Frost uses pathos when appealing to the reader’s feelings because any reader has had to make a decision in their life. Creating this symbol helps to relate to the reader. The Imagery that is created helps to make the reader feel as if they are standing in the snowy woods, looking down two paths, and trying to make the decision of which one to take. Frost used
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. "
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler” (Page 756 Stanza 1). This is the beginning of an iambic tetrameter by Robert Frost in which he expresses the thoughts of the speaker as they come to a fork in the road. The speaker faces a dilemma of deciding which path to take. Frost uses a closed form with a rhyme scheme of “ABAAB.” The speaker reaching the fork in the road is symbolism for a particular decision that he must make in life. The first stanza is setting up the situation in which the speaker must observe both choices and make a decision and stick with it. This poem allows the reader to use their imagination and is also relatable in everyone’s everyday lives. In “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost uses a good rhyme scheme, description, and symbolism to describe an important life decision as well as show the thoughts of the speaker as he makes this decision.
In Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” there are many complexities that ultimately lead to the poem’s unity. At first glance this poem seems to be a very typical coming of age poem where the speaker has come to a major fork in the road and he must decide which path to take. At first glance this would be a very good statement to make; however, as the reader digs deeper and searches for the complexity and the nuances of the poem the original assessment seems to be shallow and underdeveloped. In order to truly appreciate this poem as a work of art, the reader must search for the unity and complexity within it, otherwise this poetic work of art will go by unnoticed and cast off as a coming of age poem and nothing else.
Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." The Poetry of Robert Frost. Ed. Edward Connery, Lathem. New York: Hot, Rinehart and Winston, 1969. 105.
Robert Frost is an American poet who was born on March 26th 1874 in San Francisco California, and he later died on January 29th 1963 in Boston Massachusetts. Frost was and still is a highly distinguished award winning poet winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Frost’s work is very superficial, his work has many hidden meanings and this relates back to the focus statement, what matters most in a text is what goes on beneath the surface. This statement heavily relates to Frost’s work as all of his poems have hidden messages, and meanings throughout them, these are hidden beneath the surface of his poems. The Frost poems I will be writing about are, The Road Not Taken, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and Nothing Gold Can Stay. All four
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 first stanza introduced the reader to the decision the author would have to make. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" to me signified that the result of his decision would arise from the same origin to which in my own life, I can reflect on. And though he would like to have seen the outcome of both paths, he knew he could only choose one. And to help him decide, he would look down both choices and see only until the road took a bend.
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” show the readers similar struggles of life. “The Road Not Taken” is about taking control of one’s life and living it aside from how others live theirs. While “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening” shows the desire for rest. Sometimes people regret the possibilities of the road not chosen, sometimes people feel proud about the road that they
The two roads in the poem relate to various paths one might be faced with in life. One path “bent in the undergrowth” (5) which means it had taken many times. However, the other path “was grassy and wanted wear” (8). This is the path in one’s life, which seems “unpopular” at the time. Not many people choose the path that is not typically chosen by others. This is what Frost is doing in his poem as he uses these solid metaphors: challenging his readers to “go against the flow” as the man did.
Wood, Kerry M. "Poetry Analysis: The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost - by Kerry Michael Wood - Helium." Helium - Where Knowledge Rules. 22 May 2008. Web. 03 May 2011. .
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.
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.
This poem is one of many written by Frost in 1916 and it is commonly used in high school writing classes. It has been written about frequently and often analyzed because of the connection people feel to the poem for the reason that everyone has to make life choices. The reading of the poem touches a wide variety of readers because each one can identify with the writers predicament of having to make a choice, with two different options, as in the poem which road to take either the well-traveled path or as he decides the less journeyed. As an outcome of this choice, the writer states, that his life was profoundly different than it would have been had he taken the other road. The other road the more traveled and seemingly the safer of the two makes the reader seem more fearless to except what the unknown has to offer thus making his own way in the world. In reading further the roads are almost the same both being beautiful and equally passable. The writer tries to explain why things happened the way they did and that is a significant moment in his life. One might pick the road that gets them to w...
The speaker in Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' gives the reader insight into human nature with each line of poetry. While, Frost had not originally intended for this to be an inspirational poem, line by line, the speaker is encouraging each reader to seek out his or her own personal path in the journey of life. Romanticizing the rural woods of New England creates the perfect setting for the theme of self-discovery laid out and described by the speaker.