Critical interpretation

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Liam Kelleher

Date of submission: 02 November 2009

Critical interpretation

                   Discuss Robert Frost’s exploration of man’s relationship to nature

Robert Frost has an exceptional relationship to nature. Being a farmer in New England, he was surrounded by the beauty and tranquillity of nature. Frost, through his poems explores man’s relationship to nature, capturing every detail, the importance of nature and how human’s become sidetracked in worldly issues. In the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ Frost uses the metaphor of the road to reflect on life choices, that in life we may come to “two roads” (1) and look back to see what life would bring if the other road had been taken. In the first stanza, the last word “undergrowth” (5) symbolises mystery and adventure through the woods. Frost uses the nature of the woods to show life is like those woods because no one can clearly see or predict what will happen in the future, only hope to choose a path that will lead to good fortune and happiness. Though the speaker takes the road “less travelled by” (19), he justifies himself “because it was grassy and wanted wear” (8). This can be seen that the speaker took the pleasant road or wants to discover something exciting, however after travelling down the road “the passing there / had worn them really about the same.”

Unlike the title, clearly the road had been taken. The speaker feels deflated and less courageous, because many other people had taken the same path. In the first of the four stanzas, “and” appears on lines 2, 3 and 4. This repetition makes the speaker feel like he is questioning and justifying which road to take. It also gives a slow pace but a constant flow when reading. This is added by the rhyme scheme, each stanza apart from the fourth follows an abaab form, drawing emphasis to the last word. In the third stanza, the speaker explains “oh, I kept the first for another day!” This highlights the conversational aspect used alongside the rhyme scheme to show the speakers longing for choice. The last stanza reveals much ambiguity “I shall be telling this with a sigh.” The ‘sigh’ could mean happiness or regret; this signifies the overall feeling of the poem, the speaker wishes he could have had wider experience of life by taking both choices.

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                        “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –      

                          I took the one less travelled by,

                          And that has made all the difference.”

The speaker has come to the decision that, for better or worse, the choice he has made will be permanent and will affect him throughout his life. Also, nature determines what we do and where go, ...

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