‘The Road Not Taken’ is a poem by Robert Frost which states that people come to make strategic decisions in life, and that at various points, the individual must be subject to fate. Understanding this poem requires the reader to understand the meaning of life, which the author helps the reader get a better understanding of by using literary devices and tone. The reader comes to the realization that life entails a combination of fate and decision-making. The speaker narrates this poem standing in the woods while considering which of two roads to take (Frost, 2015). The two roads are equally overlaid and worn, but the speaker still has to choose one and concludes he will take the other road another day. However, the narrator also admits this is unlikely and that this opportunity will never come again. In ‘The Road Not Taken’, the poet shows that people’s decisions in life should be made carefully because it is not possible to go back in time and undo these decisions.
The main theme in this poem is choice, with the poet walking on a road that splits into two directions and he must make a choice. The narrator is traveling through the woods and comes across a forked road, where he or she must make a choice on the road to continue travelling on. Further, whereas one road has been used frequently and is safer, the other road is overlaid and has not been used frequently. In the end, the narrator chooses the less travelled road and says that this less-convenient path over the easy path made all the difference (Frost, 2015).
The literal setting or situation in this poem is a path inside a yellow wood that diverges or forks out into two paths. In this case, the yellow wood signifies that the situation in the poem is set in early autumn as this is when leaves turn yellow. These two roads in the woods confuse the poem’s narrator and there is no sign to indicate where wither path leads. In addition, the poem is set in the morning where the leaves were still fresh on both paths and had not been trodden (Frost, 2015).
The setting symbolizes the mind of the speaker with the ‘yellow wood’ implying that the speaker is in the later stages of his life (Frost, 2015). Further, the speaker can see two roads in his mind, which represents the two options that he must choose from to continue with the journey of life. Since the narrator cannot simultaneously choose both options, he or she agonizes about which choice will be more meaningful to his life in the long term. By taking the road less traveled, the narrator implies that he chose not to conform to society’s expectations.
The mood in ‘The Road Not Taken’ is nostalgic as the speaker looks back with sentimental emotions on his past. However, the mood is also ambiguous which means that different readers could view this poem as either regretful or nostalgic. Generally, the mood in this poem reflects the narrator’s emotional state. The poem’s mood, therefore, can be considered to reflect the narrator looking back with pride because he made the right choice in life or as a regretful recounting of the choices made by the narrator (Frost, 2015). Indeed, the mood forks similar to the road described in the poem.
The title of this poem is significant to its meaning and content. In this case, the poem’s title focuses the content of the poem on the speaker’s lost opportunities, which are symbolized by the road he chose to take. On the other hand, the title may also focus the poem’s meaning on the right choice which the narrator made by choosing to travel on a road that most people did not take. The title has figurative and literal meaning with both emphasizing the road that was not taken or chosen, rather than the road which the narrator took.
One of the literary devices used in ‘The Road Not Taken’ is epiphany, in which the narrator has an insight that bears his or her choices and outcomes. The narrator realizes that the road he or she chose to take changes is or her life, making all the difference in the narrator’s life (Frost, 2015). The poem also uses symbolism, in which ideas or objects are used to represent something else. The fork in the road is a symbol of the choices that people must make in life, while the road taken symbolizes the choice and the subsequent journey of life. The poem also uses antithesis, where the speaker wants to use both paths, which is figuratively and literally impossible.
The poem uses the rhyme scheme ABAAB; CDCCD; EFEEF; GHGGH. The poem is divided into four stanzas with five lines each where the rhymes form regular pattern and the rhyme scheme in each stanza is identical. The poem’s rhyme scheme is particularly original, with the poet using full rhyme in the entire poem except where he utilizes half rhyme in lines 17 and 20. It is only possible for the syllables at the end of lines 17 and 20 to rhyme if the reader emphasizes syllable three in the word ‘difference’ and pronounces ‘hence’ by emphasizing the first syllable ‘e’ (Frost, 2015).
The narrator is not identified either by gender or profession, meaning that it could be anyone. The only information provided is that the narrator is elderly since he/she is reminiscing about life decisions. The narrator is perplexed in the first stanza as he or she is faced by a choice between two roads, but becomes decisive in stanza 2 by taking the less-worn road before becoming wistful in the third stanza by saying he or she could return and take the other path but knows this is unlikely. Finally, the narrator is satisfied in the fourth stanza by stating that he or she took the path less travelled which made all the difference (Frost, 2015).
Finally, the narrator’s attitude about the poem’s subject matter is that choices must be made and that each person must live with the consequences of their choices. Thus, the narrator seeks to emphasize the similarity between all humans and the desire to be remembered.
