English 3 - Paper One: Critical Analysis of 'The Road Not Taken' Poem

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Robert Frost's poem, 'The Road Not Taken,' exploring its central themes and literary devices. The essay begins by introducing the poem's core message about life choices and their consequences. It examines the poem's symbolism, particularly the two roads representing different paths in life, and the significance of the speaker's decision. The analysis delves into the poet's use of imagery and language to convey the impact of choices and the potential for regret or reflection. Furthermore, the essay highlights the poem's broader message about the importance of making wise decisions, understanding that our choices shape our future, and the lasting impact of our decisions. The essay also discusses the poem's structure and its adherence to MLA format, providing evidence and quotes from the text to support the analysis, and includes a works cited page.

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English 1
“The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost”
The Road Not Taken poem is written by Robert Frost who elaborates about life and its
experiences through the poem. Through the poem, the poet expresses that people usually have
two choices in life and the path that they do not choose is the road on taken. The path that we
choose defines our life, future and destination as well. The poem gives the message that the life
of the people is built based on the decision that they take. If they take the wrong decision in life
then they can only regret about it and cannot change anything, thus people should act wisely
before taking any decision in life. Life is full of uncertain events and unpredictable outcomes of
such events. Every person faces a situation in life where they see two options for them to choose.
These two options would decide that their life would revolve in which direction, so people need
to take such decision wisely. The poet confronts a similar situation in life where he gets to face
two roads and he has to choose between one of them. The two roads represent two choices in life
that the poet might take; one of the two roads looks less walked over because there were fewer
footsteps. This means that there were fewer people who have chosen the road whereas the other
road had many footsteps, leaves were not present, and the grass was crushed which stated that
more people chose the other road (Frost).
The grass on another road looked clean and petals were green that symbolized that only a few
people have walked on that road through the day. Initially, the poet expressed that both the paths
are equally good and it is difficult for him to choose one between the two. However, he took the
path that was unused because not many people have visited it so he will not face the crowd by
walking on that path. However, by choosing the other path made the poet realized that the
opportunities, obstacles and benefits of both the paths were similar and work out. Even in life,
the decisions made by people give them similar benefits and drawbacks and it is important for
every person to face them. Every person in life believes that they have chosen the best path for
him or her, but it is not right as every path has there differential factors. Further, the poet states
that people in life do not get the chance to take a step back from their decision and walk away as
moving on with their choices in life the only thing that person can do. Thus, it should be noted
that this poem states a strong motive that people should choose their decisions wisely because
they hold the capacity to change their future (Mayrhofer, 197-205). Once a decision is made, no

English 2
one can run away from it or undo it if they do not like. Thus, the choice that we make today can
change our tomorrow.

English 3
Work Cited
Frost, Robert. The collected poems of Robert Frost. Chartwell Books, 2016.
Mayrhofer, Wolfgang, et al. "Career success across the globe." Organizational Dynamics 45.3
(2016): 197-205.