It is in making a choice that one has to order one’s priorities and is tested. One cannot always have the best of everything. In general, the poet realizes that a person has very often to make choices. Even at this crucial moment of having to make a choice, the poet was aware of the importance of the choice general as well as in particular. This inevitability, which apparently has an element of choice is brought in this oft-quoted and oft-misunderstood poem, The Road not Taken.īut the poet also realized immediately that there was no real difference because his going through the road would have worn it about the same. He was inevitably guided towards his destination by some spirit, some unseen forces that keep working on man. Relating the poem to the reality of Frost’s experience, Untermeyer says that Frost has gone his own way. Nitchie points out this poem has for its theme, one of the major themes in Frost’s poetry- the problem of having to make a choice. Here the poet takes his chance and comments on the difficulty and importance of having to make a choice. The poet’s creative faculty gets enlivened when he faces the problem of having to choose one of the two roads at a bifurcation. In the poem, we find a rare blend of ‘inner lyric vision and the outer contemplative narration’. It has been acknowledged as one of the finest and most popular poems of the volume. These devices help piece the poem together.The Road not taken was first published in 1916, in the volume of poems entitled Mountain Interval. Again, Frost communicates his solemn and contemplative tone by familiarizing the reader with the character’s experiences.Īs a result, it can be said that Poetic devices are tools that a poet can use to create or enhance a poem’s meaning, or intensify a mood or feeling. This is probably one of the reasons why the character feels a sense of regret later in the work. In this section of the poem, it almost seems as if the character unexpectedly wanted life to desire him or her to enter it, as the poem suggests the grass wanted to be worn down. The author further establishes the setting as, in the second stanza, it states, “Then took the other, as just as fair, / And having perhaps the better claim, / Because it was grassy and wanted wear…”. Here, Frost again outlines his tone as he demonstrates the character’s rational contemplation and, eventually, regret. This suggests that the story takes place in the middle of autumn, most likely, contributing to the sense that time is running out-as in life-for the character. The phrase “a yellow wood” may be a symbolism of the color the trees radiated. In the poem, he states, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…”. The use of such devices again add to the connection between the reader and the character-forcing Frost’s message to become even more insightful.Īnother literary aspect Frost utilizes to express his tone in setting. Frost strengthens the reader’s figurative presence in the poem by presenting such diction and setting of two roads. This characterization helps to bridge the gap between the reader and the character, allowing the poem to communicate a deeper meaning. Later in the poem, the author reveals the attributes and personality of the main character as he or she ponders past life choices. Frost establishes this theme with a depiction of two paths in the woods. The poem describes the problems and choices one must take in life, and how those specific decisions impact that person. Robert Frost’s work The Road Not Taken conveys a very simple, yet pensive theme. This is an ambiguous poem that allows the readers to think about choices they make in life. This is an excellent example of theme in the poem ‘Road Not Taken’. The theme is not stated explicitly in the text, but instead is expressed through the characters’ actions, words, and thoughts. A poem or text can have more than one theme. Usually the theme of a work of literature can be stated in one word, such as “love” or“sadness”. As a literary device, the theme of a poem lies in the meaning of the story it tells.It is the central topic or idea explored in a text. In this essay I will be looking for examples of poetic devices such as theme, imagey and tone, in the poem created by Robert Frost ‘The Road Not Taken’.
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