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, (1st
line)
And
sorry I could not travel both (2nd
line)
And
be one traveler, long I stood (3rd
line)
And looked down one as far as I could (4th line)
To
where it bent in the undergrowth; (5th
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.
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