The “Road Not Taken” poem by Robert Frost

The "Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem that employs tasteful and rhythmic dialect qualities such as phonaesthetics, sound imagery, and meter to generate implications or set up of the seeming prosaic significance (Frost 130). Frost is a well-known and prominent poet who stood head and shoulders above his contemporaries in America. It is important to notice that the author's use of figures of speech not only helps to generate emotional and literal meaning across the verses, but also the use of imagery, sarcasm, and implicit diction helps to sustain Frost's audience's judgment.

The author positions the poem's scene amid forested areas, taking into account two roadways. “And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth” (Frost 130). The speaker picks one believing in himself; he will take the other one another day. Nevertheless, it is impossible that he will have the chance to do as such. He eventually never contemplates the less traveled path he chose. This poem refers to the dilemma in life to make decisions. The decisions are significant, and once one makes a decision, they have no option of revisiting to make corrections, since life is lived once.

The title of the poem, “The Road Not Taken” is dramatic in that it depicts a choice-making occasion in life; the wisdom of taking a road less traveled. A speaker is probably a young man, targeting an equally teenage audience that has many critical decisions to make in life. Frost is an acclaimed dramaturgic fellow, owing to his renowned literary works. Frost has similarly utilized various segments of drama in his critical work to maintain and insist on the aspects targeted to his audience.

The utilization of repetition helps to create purpose in the audience of Frost, particularly about things that the persona holds as a core in decision-making. Line 14 in Robert`s “The Road Not Taken” highlights repetitively, “way leads on to the way” that makes a streaming, constant development to reflect the pace of life. Repetition serves to create emphasize in poetry, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way” (Frost 130). An author can pass on meaningful content to the target audience by utilizing understandable statements across the stanzas or lines.

Imagery, in a scholarly content, is a writer`s utilization of clear and elucidating dialect to add profundity to their poems. Frost speaks of two opposed roads in yellow woods, which creates a real-time setting in the reader's mind. Line 8, “Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (Frost 130) pleasantly portrays that the route is not regularly utilized. Frost`s imagery confers legitimate request on the conscious level, yet it likewise dives into the intuitive, into the universe of recollections, creating a continuous flow of pictures.

The metaphor is a different method of expression in which a word or manifestation is connected to an article or activity to which it is not material. The metaphor is brought out in line 20, “And that has made all the difference” (Frost 130). The correlation between the fork and the road shows choices one must make in life, which is an amplified metaphor. The road applies to diverse ways of life.

Tone refers to the writer's state of mind toward the poem`s speaker and topic, as translated by the audience. Robert Frost portrays a contemplative tone when analyzing the advantages of either path. He regrets that never will he know the destination of the other road. However, he is glad his choice would result in a whole difference, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (Frost 130). Nevertheless, Frost never utilized many tones in his work, relative to other figures of speech.

The structure Frost employs is a complex that helps manifest and deliver the imaginations of his audience, right from the beginning of the poem. Frost`s poem has four stanzas each with five lines. Figuratively, the first line connotes the decision while the second one shows the eventual choice made by the poet. The third stanza indicates the regrets of the author, owing to his missed opportunity to explore the other path; however, he is glad in the fourth verse in that he made a brilliant decision (Frost 130).

Diction is a term used to allude to the phonetic style, the vocabulary, and the allegories utilized as a part of the composition of poems by their respective authors. Frost uses simple, solid, beautiful, typical and efficiently caught on language. The lyric sounds in the ears of the reader when pronounced loud enough serves to better unite with the speaker through human experience. Ideally, Frost conveys imperativeness and pleasantness to his portrayals of the physical world. He is especially keen to sounds and represents them with intense mindfulness of register.

The rhyme scheme used by Frost is well tailored to remain congruent to other alternative applications of the poem. At the end of every stanza in a poem or song, artists employ peculiar rhymes that connote a unique rhyme plan to their work. In Frost`s case, he engaged an ABAAB CDCCD rhyme scheme (Frost 130). On the other hand, he further explored different avenues regarding meter and rhythm because he suspected that experimentation was the law of the evolving times, and that advancement was the good news of the present day world.

Symbols are objects or names of things used to mean a universal phenomenon or objects in life. For instance, words like grass, woods, two rods and journey were used by Frost symbolically. Frost utilizes the two roads to mean dilemma in making critical choices in life. Indeed, Frost`s utilization of symbolism was administered by the items he watched: and hence those that dominated his physical environment. The symbols would later give a better understanding of his core themes in the poem, to his target audience. Typically, Robert Frost is a seasoned American poet. His literal works in The Road Not Taken portray rich and lucrative; both literal and socio-cultural circles of humankind (Frost 130). A couple of similarities in the figures of speech utilized by the author exist; nevertheless, the differences on the same aspect are evidenced, which serves to deliver his objectives.

In conclusion, therefore, Frost brings on board a couple of themes in this poem. Making choices in life seems to be a critical aspect that the persona highlights consistently. While walking in the woods, he meets diversions in a pair, and he is in a dilemma, just to pick one. Secondly, the subject of plans, hopes and dreams are also illuminated. While the persona has to choose one path, this option would significantly affect his future. Indeed, making choices in the present life determines the outcome of the lives people lead in days and years after. Third, whether the relevance of nature is in the life of every human person (Frost 130). The author utilizes figurative and symbolic elements to expose what is within the vicinity of the speaker, and how directly and indirectly it shapes his life and decision making abilities. Finally, the theme of courage and a valiant mindset is evidenced, considering that the adventurous speaker is out to explore without a map, and while he risks getting lost, he does not give up but instead chooses to keep going.

Work Cited

Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." Gifted Education International, vol. 15, no. 2, 2001, pp. 130-130.