“The Road Not Taken” is a poem written by American author, Robert Frost that focuses on the message of the path one decides to take. The elements used in the poem are rhymes – with the rhyme scheme being ABAAB.
The first stanza is ABAAB, CDCCD for the second stanza, EFEEF for the third, and GHGGH for the last stanza. Other elements are meter – specifically anapestic meter and trochaic meter, poetic language – figures of speech which are precisely metaphor, personification, imagery, and simile, and some other elements are symbolism, tone, mood, and theme.
The title correlates the poem’s structure and language that there are roads that are often taken and others that are not. For me, it tells the message that we bear the decision in choosing which road to take and that although the one that we choose may not be the usual route, it does not mean that we are lost.
The tone of the author is not optimistic but it is about contentment and satisfaction brought by choice, the setting and imagery of the poem settle in the woods where two roads are seen and the mood is encouraging in terms of empowering independent choices.
The line “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both” is a message from the author that tells us that there are simply two roads in life – easy and hard and that it is up to us which path to choose for its importance is a mirror that reflects what matters to us.
Often times, people use directions and through these, we are guided with our decisions as the footsteps of those who took the safe road are for us to follow.
The hard road is one that is rarely taken by choice but always taken for granted, which is why the poem speaks for the road less traveled as it does not necessarily mean failure, hardships, or struggle – it means that our perspective and perseverance leads to a beautiful destination, one which is better because we strive to make it better and one that will be better if we make it better.
It indicates and teaches the value of choices, decisions, and trust in one’s self and that regardless of which path we choose, we are all just travelers in life – searching and walking our own roads.
The line “then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim.” Frost tells the readers that happiness and contentment is a product of choice and wise decision. Sometimes, to see is indeed to believe and that experiences are truly meant to teach us.
It signifies that we need to be able to experience, see and discover the path that we want in life and that we should not be shaken by the darkness that lay ahead or the comments of those who took a different path because we are all just travelers and our destination is for us, not for them.
We have the will to keep going or to walk away – it is up to us to make the difference that we want to matter in our lives as related to the author’s words in the line “I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
This is an interpretation of the poem based on personal observation and judgment of the elements, structure, and form without the support and use of literary theories hence it is literary analysis.
