An Analysis of a Poem

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

by Robert Frost

An Analysis of a Poem

 “The Road Not Taken”

By Robert Frost

“The Road Not Taken” is one of Robert Frost’s popular poems.  Robert Frost was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874. He moved to New England at the age of eleven and became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1892, and later at Harvard, though he never earned a formal degree. “The Road Not Taken” is a good poem for us to analyze and understand the message for there are many things special. The following is a short and simple analysis on it.

I.                   The Meaning of Words

The words used in this poem seem to show connotation. It means that what is

meant by certain words is not the meaning of words as they used literally.

            Example:

            Here the writer used word “roads”. It is not the roads in ordinary meaning as the

            roads where we usually walk. However, it is the “mind” or the “decision to take”

“Traveler” is not just the traveler who walks on the road in ordinary sense. Yet, traveler refers to “every/all of us/human beings”.

The word “looked down” which literally means looked down the road in the real context, but it means that the writer “reconsidered” what to do before decided what to do so. In this case the writer thought and thought again the god and the bad effects and side of what was going to do.

There are still other words that suggest the different meaning as the ordinary one.

II.                Imagery

The writer used the words in this poem to show the situation in a certain place near the wood. Then the roads diverged. After that he stops for a while and think in a hesitation what to do. He is in doubt which road to take. In deep breath, he thinks deeply about the consideration of each decision to take. Here the writer uses the image of such situation to describe that we may face such dilemmatic situation which forces us to decide what to do with each consequence.

III.             The Poetic Comparison

Here the writer compares the diverged roads to the decision to take which may

cause certain results or consequences.

Then the writer also compares the wood to the world of life of ours. It is in the

 world of our life that we have to do something in a certain situation.

Where certain road we take, we will face certain inevitable condition or facts.

That is life that we may be at certain risks because of certain decision we have

taken.

IV.             The Symbol

The symbol used in this poem relates much to the imagery of it. The words used in this poem symbolize certain meaning. Like the word “road” may mean that it is the “idea in our mind” to express or show. The “wood” may be interpreted as the “situation or world” of ours in our daily life. In our real life, we may get stuck into a certain condition that forces us to do something that may be dilemmatic.

V.                The Mode or Tone

In general the “hesitation” or “doubt” is the mode or tone that the writer of this poem expresses. The poem implies the interpretation that everyone may get into a certain hesitation or doubt when he/she faces certain situation. Everyone has his/her own consideration when she/he has to make certain decision.

The writer shows his consistency in showing the hesitation in his poem. Starting from the first stanza up to the last one, still, the doubt mode dominates the message of this poem.

VI.      Setting of the Time and Space

This poem seems to bring the reader to such situation in which we are in a short distance to a wood in a late afternoon. Then we stand there for a fairly long time to think and rethinking of everything to do with each consequence.

VII.   Summary

This poem focuses on the theme of “hesitation/doubt”. The writer shows and asks the reader to imagine when we are in a certain dilemmatic situation. Then, in a short time we have to decide what to do or to take.

Here the writer argues that everyone may get such a difficult situation in which

he/she has to act/to do something. While, doing certain thing may cause another thing, too.

The writer symbolizes himself in short distance to a wood where the road to take

is diverged. Then he is in doubt which one to travel. Taking the most travelled one may not be as good as usual or as expected. Taking the other one which seems to be rarely travelled by, may be better than the first one. Such hesitating situation makes him get difficulty in deciding. However, finally he takes the rarely travelled by, in the hope that it is better than the other. He expects that it will be different from others.

In this poem the writer would like to show that in our daily life we are often faced by many dilemmatic situations that need us to be ourselves. Sometimes we see that many people do many things that sometimes against the law and religion as well as our feeling or heart. In such condition, sometimes we are forced to do so. If we do not do so, we will be out of there. However, when we accept to do so, it is not really what we want to do. So, sometimes we have to force ourselves to d differently from others in order that we are not against our deep heart feelings.

This idea is expressed thoroughly by the writer in this poem. Starting from the first stanza up to the last one, the writer is consistent to express this message by having good choice of words and symbolization.

VIII.       Rhyme

The poem “The Road not Taken” is classified as a “Rhymed Verse Forms” one.

The repetition of sound is orderly can be felt and heard. The rhyme formula is

“a, b, a, a, b”. The rhymes are as follows:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,         

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

            The rhyme good rhyme of this poem has made it catchy to our lips and ears. It

            makes a good point of this poem. It can be seen that the rhymes have ordered

            formulas. This may affect understanding of the poem readers. In turn, it may help

            the readers understand better on the message of the poem.

IX.             Kinds of Stanza

In terms of the kinds of stanza forms, the poem “The Road not Taken” is called

 “Quintet” (five lines)—it means that each stanza consists of five lines.

Example:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,          (1^st line)

And sorry I could not travel both                   (2^nd line)

And be one traveler, long I stood                   (3^rd line)

And looked down one as far as I could          (4^th line)     

To where it bent in the undergrowth;             (5^th line)

The same thing happens to the second, third, and fourth stanzas in which each of

 them consists of five lines.

X.                Criticism and Evaluation

In general, it is a very good poem. In term of the total integration of the material, this poem has had all in one. It means that the message going to express is completely represented by the words in the poem itself. In different words we can say that the poet has achieved the total integration of his materials.

In my view, this poem has made us realized what commonly happens in our daily life. Life is life. Life sometimes makes us live in different way from our selves/our feelings. Life sometimes makes us just like ordinary people, not dare to be consistent to the value of life.

All in all, I like this poem. The words choice and the rhyme make it catchy to our heart and ears. In addition, the message of this poem is truly touched felling. Furthermore, we may have ourselves understand the meaning of life because of the message of this poem.

Last but not least, the writer has a very good imagination in writing his poem. Je imagine something to represent the meaning/what he intends to express. However, it may results in different understanding and perceptions to the readers. Yet, it is quite reasonable in case that there is difference.