It should be noted that the paths that Robert Frost takes are just metaphors for decisions made in life. Robert Frost is telling his readers that every moment of one’s life, he/she has choices to make (stanza 1) and that the person making the choices will not know the consequences as much as he would like to (stanza 1). He goes on to say that man makes his decisions depending on the external appearance (stanza 2) and this decision might not turn out to be too wise (stanza 3). He concludes by saying that the decision taken might be regretful and one will, therefore, be forced to manipulate his/her justification for taking that decision (stanza 4). This is common in real-life. If we make a wrong decision, we often claim that we made the right decision, but the result was not too good. We never cast blame on ourselves.
The setting and the imagery of the poem indicates that Frost has chosen a very ideal setting to illustrate his theme. The ‘yellow wood’ is a perfect setting for the theme of the poem because of three important reasons. The first and perhaps the most important reason is that in the woods, whatever the road that one takes, the outcome is not known. Frost tried looking down to where ‘it bent in the undergrowth’, but he could still not see where it lead. It signifies that in reality, we never know what the choice that we make will lead us to. The second reason why this setting was ideal for the theme is that in the wood, one never knows when he/she will be called upon to make a decision. As is seen, Robert Frost was suddenly in front of a fork, forced to make a choice which will in turn decide his destiny. This is similar to what happens in real life; one never knows when to make a choice. The third reason that this setting is ideal is because it is where appearance can be deceptive. Frost chose what appeared like a ‘grassy’ road that ‘wanted wear’ but eventually realized that both the roads had worn out equally (‘worn them about the same’). This again relates to life in that when a decision has to be made, the choice should not depend on external appearances. The imagery created is typical of Frost. In many of Frost’s poems, nature imagery is always seen. In this poem, the setting itself is in the woods, which provides the most stereotypical image of nature.
The poem has four stanzas, each having 5 lines. Each line has 4 stressed syllables in it and the poem is using iambic pentameter. Each stanza has a rhyme sequence of ABAAB. There is, however, one exception in the last line. For the rhyme to be perfect, the –ence in difference should be stressed, but it is normally not stressed. One explanation that I can find for the exception in the rhyme in the last line is embedded in the storyline itself. As is seen, Robert Frost gives a twist to the story at the end when he openly admits that he will manipulate his story and say that he chose the ‘less traveled road’. This twist, or a slight change from the truth, may be represented by this exception which is a slight change from the regular rhyme sequence.
Frost uses various literary techniques to make the poem interesting. Alliteration has been used to attract the reader “wanted wear”. This example of alliteration refers to the road. It shows, through the use of alliteration, that this road was somehow unique to Frost. Punctuation has been commonly used to attract the reader to something important. The colon in line 17 is used to alert the reader “Somewhere ages and ages hence:…”. Frost also uses punctuation to convey his mental states. For example, he uses hyphens and dashes to convey a state of hesitation “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one…” He also uses exclamation marks to mark a sudden desire for an artificial change in mood. For example, the exclamation mark in “Oh, I kept the first for another day!” shows that he was trying to console himself by telling himself that he still had a chance to take the other road, when in reality, he did not. This artificial creation of happiness is aided by the exclamation mark.
The tone is very ironic. The first two lines of the last stanza show a lot of irony “I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence…”. The word ‘sigh’ is very important. The word ‘sigh’ could show Frost’s insincerity. He thinks that he will have to lie and belie the truth when trying to set an example. He will have to ‘sigh’- signifying that he won’t believe it himself - and then say ‘Two roads diverged in the wood, and I--I took the one less traveled”. But the word ‘sigh’ shows that in the back of his mind, he will know that both the paths were equally worn out and there was no ‘less traveled path’.
‘Sigh’ could also be showing Frost’s regret. It shows that he would sigh – indicating unhappiness and dissatisfaction at his decision – and proceed to tell his twisted story.
The title is of a very ambiguous nature. At first glance, the title could suggest that the poem is likely to feature around a choice one has to make. However, on analyzing the title carefully, the word ‘not’ in the title could suggest a longing for the path that Frost did not take or the word ‘not’ could also signify the fact that no person traveled on that road.
The poem on the whole was made interesting from the very first stanza, when the dilemma was seen. I wanted to continue reading to see which road Frost would take, and what the final outcome would be. For me, the poem carries with it concrete links to every-day life. The decision made in this poem is not right or wrong; there is no ‘right path’ or ‘wrong path’. There are only two paths: one that is chosen and one that is not. What I will most remember about this poem is not the decision that Frost takes, but the dilemma involved in making that decision. That is the dilemma one faces when entering the realm of human psychology.
