Taking a Gander at Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

Everyone is faced with decisions in their life that will set them down a specific path, leaving the other path to never be trodden. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, "The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different interpretations.

The setting is a path in the wood which is diverging into two roads. One path is worn down, while the other one is obviously less trodden, as there is much undergrowth surrounding it. The setting of the poem is the symbolism of the poem, because it communicates the idea and message. Our lives are like roads, with splitting paths representing the different choices that we must make. As we live our lives we travel down the road, rarely going back. Whether we don't come back because time pushes us forward or because we have no will to, these choices are what mold us into what we desire (or not) to become. Robert Frost depicted the two paths that he had come across as being two separate ways because he understood that he would probably never come back to see what was down the path he did not choose, "Yet knowing how the way leads on to way/ I doubted if I should ever come back" (14-15).

Frost was trying to convey the importance of making the right decision when confronted with such a scenario in life (Wilcox). Both roads might lead to success, if the traveler has the will to make it so, but there is more to be learned and character to be wrought from trying harder to earn that success. Life can not always be measured by monetary success, but instead it should be measured by the growth of personality and purity of intentions.

"The Road Not Taken" is a closed form poem with four stanzas consisting of five lines each. Having consistent numbers of lines within stanzas allows a concrete rhythm to be developed. There is the same rhyme scheme of "A, B, A, A, B" within each stanza. Having the same rhyme scheme and the same rhythm in each stanza creates a closed form poem. Assonance can be found in line 14, "Yet knowing how way leads on to way" (14). Saying way leads on to way creates a unique tempo for that line, creating focus. Focus is put on this line because it is important to note that one fork in the road will lead to another fork in the road, because our choices lead us to a new set of choices later on in life (Wilcox). The gist of it being that a choice made in the present effects every single choice made from then on.

Symbolism is used to describe how there were no markings on the trail to warn of danger down one of the paths, "In leaves no step had trodden black" (12). What is meant by trodden black is that there were no signs to tell which path was the better before he chose (Wilcox). In life there are decisions that must be made without knowing which one will benefit more. Since we do not know what the outcome of our choices are before we make them, the outcome is not what controls what choice we make. It is up to the factors at the immediate time of the decision that sway us in one direction or another. At the divergence in the road there were no immediate signs of impending danger to be seen from either roadway, and that is the symbolism behind no leaves having any black.

Excellent use of imagery is used when describing his situation that fateful day in the wood, "And both that morning equally lay/ In leaves no step had trodden black" (11-12). The description of the time of day further illustrates the scene for the reader, and can give a more vivid sense of the idea Frost is trying to convey. At the time of the decision, both choices seem just as feasible, ripe for success because of the symbolism used in the latter line (Wilcox). There is good physical imagery, giving us a sense of early morning on a beautiful trail deep in the woods. There is also excellent symbolic imagery, showing the dawn of a new era in life at this crossroads of his life. He sees two ways he can go with his life with no underlying dangers apparent to him, so both aspects seem to be positive decisions in his life. Maybe that is why it is morning as opposed to dusk or any time of day. Robert Frost has been traveling down this road through night, and upon the rising of a new day he has come across this split in the road where he must make a choice.

There are many tools that can be utilized by poets to create depth to poetry and compose underlying meanings to their works. If composed intricately, derivations can be found that only illustrate the beauty that is the English language. The possibilities are endless and only limited by the bounds that authors leap by. Robert Frost is able to convey one of life's most important but most frequent events in "The Road Not Taken". Frequency in occurrence does not dull the importance of the choices we make, because the choices we make are what form who we are.