Jack Cronquist 1

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken describes a traveler that faces a dilemma

which is a literal fork in the road. Not knowing where each path leads or what is along the way,

the narrator ponders what each road may have in store for him as well as what regret he may

face by choosing a path. The narrator exhibits the knowledge of guilt because he will never

know what is on the road not taken or where it leads. In order to convey the feeling of this

quandary, Frost uses many literary devices that help to provide the reader with context as to

how it feels to choose in a situation where there is no winning. This entire poem can be used as

a metaphor for life; meaning that there will be many decisions where you can't win.

As the essay starts, Frost immediately informs the reader of the problem the narrator is

facing. By stating, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and

be one traveler, long I stood”, Frost immediately creates a form of imagery in which the reader

also expresses the same feeling of denial as the narrator. Frost builds upon this feeling by

saying “ I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth”, this

builds upon the already unsettling problem that the narrator won't be able to escape the

inevitable sorrow of not knowing what he missed along the other pass.

In the second stanza, the narrator inspects each path to determine which path seems

more desirable. Frost uses personification in order to describe the road as wanting wear. As a

result, the reader has a larger sense of what the setting is like within this poem. Frost paints a

picture in the reader's mind that each path hasn't had many travelers. The next thing Frost does

in order to build the setting of the poem is say “And both that morning equally lay in leaves no

step had trodden black”. This intense form of personification supports the idea that the narrator

is standing in the middle of a fall bound forest. Throughout the poem, Frost uses imagery and

personification in order to build upon The dilemma the narrator is facing.

“Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I

should ever come back”, is how Frost ends the third stanza. These lines are some of the most
Jack Cronquist
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crucial lines to explaining this dilemma is solved. The narrator acknowledges the fact that he

probably will never be able to experience the road not taken, which builds upon Frost’s

metaphor for life even further. The metaphor that Frost was attempting to get across was how in

life there will always be decisions that result in someone missing out or not knowing what

could've happened, proving the uncertainty we face on a daily basis. In the last stanza Frost

also expresses acceptance by using onomatopoeia with the word of a sigh, this acceptance

comes from the fact that the narrator is finally accepting that he will miss something no matter

what path he chooses. Frost then ends the poem by saying, “Two roads diverged in a wood,

and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference”. Meaning that the

narrator finally came to a conclusion on which path to take.

The poem The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost uses many forms of imagery,

personification, metaphors, as well as other forms of figurative language in order to express the

overarching theme of how difficult life can be when having to make a choice. No matter what, in

every decision we make, there will always be something we miss out on. Although it is a somber

thought, there are still many positives that come out of the choices we do make. In the end, life

is greatly affected by the road not taken.