Frost

A detailed Summary of Frost

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is a lyrical poem about the decisions that one must make in life. When a man approaches a fork in the road on which he is traveling, he must choose which path to take. The choice that he makes, as with any choices made in life, affects him in a way that "has made all the difference . Thematically, the poem argues that no matter how small a decision is, that decision will affect a person's life forever.

"The Road Not Taken" is told as a first-person narrative. The narrator is looking back on the decisions that have affected him. The decision that is illustrated in the poem occurred at a much earlier point in the narrator's life. It would be possible for a reader to be drawn into the poem to such a degree that the reader would become the narrator. Everyone has made decisions, and since it is the purpose of this poem to discuss and address those decisions, it would be easy to look beyond the narrator and see oneself. The word choice used in the poem very effectively portrays the speaker. The language used is very simple, almost as if the narrator is not speaking, but thinking, for t

The structure also reinforces the theme of Frost's poem. The poem is written in four stanzas with five lines per stanza. This form gives the poem a very balanced form. The poem conforms to a set of rules that Frost has presented. The rules define the poem's stresses, lines, and rhyme scheme. Therefore, the poem fits the rules for closed for poetry. The rhyme scheme for the poem is ABAAB CDCCD EFEEF GHGGH IJIIJ. This pattern creates a very understandable and flowing poem. The reader is carried from line to line, stanza to stanza by the rhyming words at the ends of the lines. Underneath this rhyme scheme lies a strict rule for the syllables in each line as well. The lines alternate between eight and nine syllables. This provides a contrast since rhyming lines do not necessarily contain the same number of syllables. This choice by Frost pulls the reader into the poem, but maintains the thought-like atmosphere as the narrator looks back unto his life at the decisions that he made and their results.

he language of thoughts tends to be simple without using words that require a dictionary to define. The simple, almost quiet and seducing tone acts to draw the reader into the poem allowing the reader to become the narrator.

The narrator also comes to the realization that once a choice is made, it is almost impossible to change that choice: "Oh, I kept the first

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Approximate Word count = 921
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English