All poems use symbols to represent thoughts or ideas in a more creative way, in “A Road Not Taken” the whole poem is a symbol, and has many symbols weaved throughout the poem. The main symbol in the poem is the two roads Frost comes upon in the woods. A fork in the road symbolizes that there are two options, and you can’t do both at the same time. When you come to a fork you have to make a decision on which to take. He describes one road as being under grown, which symbolizes the over use of that road. He is saying that that road is what one would typically do, and is the more commonly taken road. The other road is described as grassy, and even though grass is usually a good thing, if a road is very grassy it means that there is not as much use. The road being grassy symbolizes not many people doing that thing, and it is not very common. He also says that “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” the yellow wood is symbolizing a difficult decision he is having to make. Frost uses these symbols to make the poem more generic, so many people can relate to him, whereas if he said the literal meaning it would only relate to him.
Poets use many different structures to set up their poems, Frost uses a very distinct structure. He uses four stanzas in his poem, which is not very long. He also has five lines per stanza, with all about the same amount of words in the line. The shortness helps the poem flow together, but separates the main ideas into stanzas. The first stanza discusses the first road he approaches, the second describes the second road, the third stanza goes through the decision he made, and the last stanza is looking back at his decision. Every first and third line rhyme as well as every second, fourth and fifth line. This makes the poem flow, without making it too unprofessional. The rhyme scheme also adds to frost words choice, and arrangement. The line breaks are at the end of a thought, this makes every line to add onto previous ideas, which makes the poem easy to read. The form of “The Road Not Taken” is a simple one, but still gets the point across accurately.
Every work of writing has a specific tone, although the tone might not always be completely evident. The tone of “The Road Not Taken” seems to be one of happiness and content. The tone stays the same throughout the poem.
