road not taken

A detailed Summary of road not taken


In his poem "The Road Not Taken" Frost's theme is about how the choices one makes affect life. When we come to a fork in the road, a decision needs to be made. Both paths are different and choosing the right one - if there is a right one - will depend on where we have been. Each choice that we make plays out differently in our lives. We can look back and wonder what would have happened if we choose differently. But that is outweighed in what we would have missed. Each choice affects who we are, where we are going, and moreover our lives.

The persona had two roads to chose from and wonders what would have happened had he taken the other road. Frost's title reflects this. The first three lines, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both /And be one traveler, long I stood", tell us the speaker must choose between two roads he finds equally appealing. It is apparent the narrator has a difficult choice to make and is carefully considering his options.

In the first stanza, the emphasis is on the road that was not traveled. The pers


In the third stanza, the image of the leaves that cover the ground have not been stepped on and "no step had trodden black," indicates that no one has walked down the road since the leaves have fallen, therefore describing a road not traveled. That path does not fit who he is at this juncture in life. "I kept the first for another day," relates to his desire to travel down both paths. "knowing how way leads on to way," means that he is aware that all future life choices will be affected because of the road he chooses to travel. In this stanza he realizes that once his decision is made there is no turning back. With the sigh that he makes, it might seem that he is unhappy with his decision, he is not. "I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference," means that he does not regret choosing the less traveled road because if he had not, he would not have had the life experiences that he did. The choice that he has made allows him the freedom and the ability to see that it was a good choice at that instance in time.

This poem is about choices:

Some common words found in the essay are:
Road Frost's, road traveled, road chooses, choices makes, , road frost's, kept day, knowing leads, choice road, makes choice, life experiences,

Approximate Word count = 725
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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