Detailed Analysis of Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' Poem

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken." It explores the poem's central themes of choice, life's journey, and the impact of decisions. The analysis delves into the use of literary devices such as symbolism, alliteration, and assonance, illustrating how Frost crafts the poem's meaning. The essay discusses the poem's metaphorical representation of life and the choices individuals face. It touches upon the influences on Frost's life, such as personal tragedies and experiences, which may have shaped the poem's perspective on decision-making and its consequences. The essay also examines the speaker's reflections on the path chosen and the potential impact on future experiences. The essay highlights the poem's enduring appeal and its relevance to the human experience.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Analysis of The Road Not Taken
Almezel
Name of the University
Author note

1ANALYSIS OF THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
The American poet Robert Frost wrote the poem, “The Road Not Taken” which was
published in the year 1916 within collection called ‘Mountain Interval’. The poem is rich in
symbols and it is lyrical in tone that makes it a cherished poem for all times. This essay
analyses the poem and highlights the poetic devices that have been used in the course of the
poem. The essay also discusses about the influences on the life of the author that have caused
him to write the poem.
The speaker that has been presented in the poem meets at a junction on road in the
course of walking through the yellow woods. There were two roads that were going in
different direction and the poet was left in a quandary regarding which is the road that he
should take. In the end, the poet took the road that did not have ant foot-mark and had grass.
The roads seemed to be identical and both the roads looked fresh. The poem can be said to be
representative of the life of human beings and the various options that people face in their
life. The individuals living in the society are compelled to make choices that has a great
influence on their life. The individuals have a tendency of pondering at a later stage of life
how their life would have been had they opted for a different course in life. The dilemma that
people face in their life has been brought forward with the help of the two roads that stood in
front of the speaker. The people cannot go for two roads at the same point of time and one
has to select an option and move forward in the life. The poem states that human beings have
to move towards a particular direction and they do not get the opportunity of coming back to
same point and making another decision. The choices that the individuals make in their lives
leaves a deep impression on their life and influences their life to a great extent. The speaker
of the poem thinks that at a later stage of life he would get the opportunity to talk about the
fact that he went on a different path from the common people that has been able to win him
rewards. This aspect has been brought out with the help of the last two lines of the fourth
stanza, “I took the one less traveled by, /And that has made all the difference. The writer talks

2ANALYSIS OF THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
about the painful and confusing experience that an individual has to go through in life when
each of the options that an individual gets seems to be of equal worth. The fifth line of the
third stanza, “I doubted if I should ever come back” talks about the doubts of an individual
and the fear of the unknown that an individual has in life.
The poetic device of assonance has been made use of in the first line of the poem
while emphasizing on “o” sound placed on the words like road. The poem “The Road Not
Taken” can be called a metaphor and the road is symbolic of life. Symbolism refers to the
practice of representation of things by making use of symbols. The symbolism can help the
reader in relating to the poem who has to face confusion regarding which is the path that one
should take in life. Alliteration is evident in the third line of the second stanza in the phrase
“wanted wear”. Fork present in the woods are personified and it is indicative of the life
decisions that an individual has to make in life. The poetic device of Repetition has been used
in the course of the second line of the fourth paragraph in the sentence, “Somewhere ages and
ages hence”. It shows the immense amount of time that would have elapsed in between the
time when the speaker had to undertake a crucial decision and the reward that the speaker
would get out of it in one’s life.
Death of the father of Robert Frost made him move to New Hampshire where Frost
along with his family had to reside in a barn from the year 1900 to the year 1909. Robert
graduated as the class poet and he attended the Dartmouth University for that of a semester.
He dropped out at the University so that he could take classes at the Harvard University.
Robert Frost had to make choices in his life and this is reflected in the poem with the help of
the two roads that went in different directions. Frost had to send sister Jeanie to the state
mental hospital where she died. The daughter of Frost was sent to a mental hospital. There
were other tragedies that greatly affected Frost that included the death of daughter Marjorie
and the death of his wife Elinor. The daughter of Leslie found Frost pointing his gun at the

3ANALYSIS OF THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
direction of Elinor and saying that a choice has to be taken as one of them will be dead by the
morning. The fears that Robert Frost had was reflected in this poem, “The Road Not Taken”.
Frost was occupied with the idea of choices that has been portrayed in the poem, “The Road
Not Taken” by the portrayal of the two roads from which Frost had to choose one. Frost
distilled the terrifying world into that of the controlled verse and he made use of poetry so
that he could engage with life. Frost said that the weak people thought that they were
escaping and the strong people felt that they were pursuing. Frost was caught by the
dynamics of opposites that bore fruition in the poem, “The Road Not Taken”.
“The Road Not Taken” represents human life and the two paths in front of the speaker
indicative the choices that people have to face in life. The choices that people make has a
bearing in the life of an individual. The poetic devices of assonance, symbolism and
alliteration have been used in the poem to make the idea clear in front of the readers.