The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost relates on both a literal and metaphoric level to the concept of a journey.
Amanda Atlee
The Road Not Taken
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost relates on both a literal and metaphoric level to the concept of a journey. The poem depicts one man’s journey throughout his life, the choices he made and the road he travelled. The Road Not Taken is a poem with universal relevance about a journey that every person takes. Here is a first person narrative tale of a monumental moment in the speaker’s life - Frost can be considered the speaker. Frost is faced between the choice of a moment and a lifetime manifested in his poem. Frost presents the idea of an individual facing the difficult unalterable predilection of a moment and a lifetime. This idea in Frost’s poem is embodied in the fork in the road, the decision between the two paths, and the speaker’s decision to select the road not taken.
Frost effectively conveys his theme and meaning through the use of numerous techniques. These techniques include simple yet powerful imagery, word choice and rhyme and rhythm. Also vital in the effectiveness of this poem is the use of symbolism and the extended metaphor present.
Literally this man is a traveller standing at the divergence of two roads. Metaphorically this man is in the ‘autumn’ of his life, suggested by the “yellow wood” and has come to the crossroads where decisions have to be made to determine the rest of his life. The subject chose “the road not taken” by others and although he ponders what lies down the unknown at the end of his life he is reminiscent and satisfied “I took the one less travelled by and that has made all the difference.” A person’s life can be metaphorically related to a physical journey filled with many twists and turns. Throughout this journey there are instants where choices between alternate paths have to be made - the route a man decides to take is not always an easy one to determine. The fork in the road represents the speaker’s encounter of having to choose from two paths, a direction that will affect his the rest of his life. Frost presents to the reader a moment in anyone’s life where an difficult dubious choice has to be made. There are an abundance of options in life a person faces; Frost symbolises this in the diverging of the two paths in his poem. The decision for which path to choose from can be hard to accept, just as the revelation of the choices.
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Teacher Reviews
Here's what a teacher thought of this essay
The writer shows potential in this essay. Concepts are well explained and the symbolic reading of the poem is apparent. With better planning and less repetition, this would have achieved a good grade. More analysis of language, form and structure would have been very useful. ***
Peer Reviews
Here's what a star student thought of this essay
Quality of writing
The direction of the essay is shown from the very first sentence, and the writer lays out the aspects of the poem they will focus on, making the essay structurally clear. Something which shows an advanced level of understanding is the way in which they write in the language of the poem (“the 'autumn' of his life†in particular), showing a deeper connection to the text. A good analysis of structure and form, as they analyse the rhyme scheme and rhythm. This shows a higher-level attention to technical patterns, which clearly shows to the reader that the writer knows what they are writing about and giving an air of knowledge to the essay as a whole. Perhaps more technical language could be used to further this sense – for instance, Frost loosely uses iambic tetrameter, but the writer could consider where the divergences from said rhythm creates a more colloquial tone. This would give more technical weight to, say, the 7th paragraph, and elsewhere when discussing tone.
Level of analysis
There is a good level of the writer connecting the poem to a wider meaning and considering how the poem reflects the great philosophical questions. However, this does tend to overshadow the more detailed analysis of quotes – in some paragraphs, such as para. 7, there is a conspicuous lack of quotes where the writer seems to assert without backing up their points (though the reader feels that they could if they wanted to). Quoting is vital for higher band marks as the writer must show that points aren't just thought of randomly, but driven and supported by evidence from the text. The paragraph considering the syntax of the title of the poem is particularly effective as it analyses the title and then goes on to evaluate and interpret the meaning behind it. Asking questions, as the writer does in this paragraph (para 5), can seem clunky unless the writer makes some attempt to answer them as they do here, which makes them seem more evaluative and thus a good technique to use. The writer concludes in a manner which corresponds with the introduction, which is good as it makes the essay come together as a whole.
Response to question
From the introduction there is a very clear focus on the dual nature of the question, with the writer considering both the literal and metaphorical significance of the poem. This is good as the writer clearly understands what the 'question' or discussion point is asking. The essay question is not asked as a question, however, limiting the extent to which the writer can evaluate – if the title was rephrased 'To what extent is this a metaphorical and...' et cetera, there would have been far more scope for the writer to evaluate 'this point means that to a small extent it is a literal journey, whereas to a large extent this point does this', adding a vital level of evaluating points to the essay. Evaluation shows that the writer doesn't merely take interpretations at face value and can see how the points could be refuted, or alternatively, just how strong a point it is.
