“The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost claims he wrote “The Road Not Taken” as a joke to his friend Edward Thomas because he was so indecisive. (Ellis, Robert). In Frost’s Words “Thomas was a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn’t go the other.” He was glad either way that the poem became one of his most popular poems and that it can be interpreted in many ways. (Andrews, Terry). Robert Frost is referring to the age old dilemma toward making difficult decisions that must be faced in life and how that those decisions will shape and effect one’s life in the present and the future.
The most prominent message that Frost is trying to convey through the poem “The road not taken” is the crucial nature of making decisions. There comes a time in his life where he has to decide which of the two equally seemingly appealing choices is a better one and makes the decision to take either one. Frost illustrates this theme clearly in several lines throughout the poem. For example” Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both” (Frost) whereby he takes up the metaphor of a road splitting into two separate routes and he is standing at the point of divergence. Since he can only travel one way, he has to make a conscious decision of choosing the right path.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker regrets that at some point in his life he could not take two roads, and had to be limited to one road only. He tried his best to see what was ahead on one of the roads he could have taken, but there were limitations as the road turned and disappeared in the bushes. Frost uses a ABAAB, CDCCD, rhyme scheme: For instance, wood, both, stood, could, undergrowth from stanza one. In the second stanza, the poet emphasizes that the other road was grassy and less traveled and, therefore, he consciously took that road. He stresses that it was perhaps better, but, not much more than the other road.
Combined, there is not one specific characteristic, theme or archetype that specifically defines the hero and their journey. Together combined the similarities and differences are what make up the journey to become a whole. However, what is consistent is the writer always effectively develops a persistent theme of good overcoming evil within the hero’s journey in order to incite a profound response in the reader to believe the same theme can occur in reality. Recognizing archetypal patterns in literature brings patterns we all unconsciously respond to in similar ways, but to a conscious level. In order for the reader to feel relatable to both the literature piece evident, as well as the motion pictures in comparison, the writer must allow the hero’s journey to make certain
Also the speaker seems to be distressed as of which road to go down as he stood for a ‘long’ time contemplating which path to go down as he could not be ‘one traveller’ this makes the reader acknowledge that you can’t be at two places at once and that sometimes you have to sacrifice opportunities. The speaker seems to show regret and self-pity of their decision as they are ‘sorry’ they can’t travel both roads this creates a damp mood as they may be disappointed and unsatisfied with the road they decided to take which implies to the reader that despite the fact we a free to choose what paths and situations we get our lives into we have to deal with the unanticipated consequences weather good or bad. After the build of which path to take the speaker then makes the decision to take the other path as its ‘as just as fair’ suggesting that he made his decisions based upon looks as the other road may not have been as pretty, this gives the reader an insight to the narrators personality as they could be someone who judges
However, I did dislike that it does not say, “When you come to a fork in the road, study the footprints and take the road less traveled,” Frost made the focus more complicated. First, there is no less traveled road in this poem; it is not even an option. As seen on ll. 8-10, he states “Because it was grassy and wanted wear; though as for that, the passing there had worn them really about the same” meaning that there really is not a road that has been less traveled. Next, the poem on l.16, he states, “I shall be telling this with a sigh” which is saying that no matter what path he will take, he will inevitably regret the decision.
Deconstruction questions the artifice of binary oppositions because they are hierarchies that privilege one of the terms. Once we discover it we can use the ideology at work. In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” the central tension in this text is conformity versus nonconformity. This binary opposition is the key to the text’s main ideological framework, that nonconformity, or taking the path less traveled, is the desired choice in having a better life. However, the underlying theme of the poem, that taking the route to nonconformity is the best choice, it is also an illusion skillfully administered by American society; both paths are essentially the same, but Frost makes himself believe that they are different and one is more correct than the other and that it has “made all the difference”.
In Frost’s “The Road Not Yet Taken”, his persona is that of a person with a tale of a life journey through a metaphoric “wood”. On two roads we imagine this person coming to a crossing; “Two roads diverged in yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both” (Clugston, 2010). This is our first insight as a reader to the choice that this persona must make. It is said that this poem written by Frost was
‘…tongues in trees, books in the running brooks.’ Discuss the representation of nature in As You Like It. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a fantastical pastoral comedy; depicting the evident contrasts between the pastoral forest, the contemptuous court and the character’s plights throughout. The time in which the play was written reflects on the events surrounding Shakespeare’s life, for example, the portrayal of the court; As You Like It was written in the Elizabethan era, the play’s first performance is said to be around 1603, the beginning of the Jacobean era. There is a definite parallel between the Royal figures in the play and Shakespeare’s society, as they are forced to reside in the countryside and undertake a complete role reversal, adding confusion and interest to the play. The theme of nature is prominent in As You Like It.
The dialogue is easy to read and fast flowing. There is a lot of imagery in the poem. “we ... ” in this scenario because the poem says they "hesitated" in their approach to crossing the border. This is what led them to be interrogated by the "patrol". This has a direct relation to real life; you are more likely to succeed in things that you handle with courage then those that you handle with fear, as fear leads to suspicion.