The Road Not Taken: Discussion of Choice
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. Specifically it will discuss the theme of choice in the poem, and how sometimes the choices a person makes can make all the difference in their lives. The narrator in this poem maintains that he has taken the less traveled road, and it has "made all the difference" in his life. Sometimes, taking the long road home can be enlightening and satisfying at the same time.This poem indicates how difficult it can be to make choices, especially choices that will "make all the difference," and how sometimes, making those choices can create new awareness and understanding in life. That is what has happened to this narrator, who chooses the less traveled path through the woods, and finds that less traveled road is the one that creates peace and harmony in his life. The poem could be a lesson for everyone who is always in a hurry and does not take time to enjoy their surroundings and their situation, but instead is always hurrying on to the next task, which is how so many people live their lives today.The traveler in this poem has a choice, and at first, has difficulty making a decision. This indecisiveness also burdens many
Many of us go through our lives never choosing that longer, less traveled road, because something always gets in the way. We would do better if we sometimes chose that less traveled road, and let it make all the difference in our lives. He was hard on himself that way" (Editors). He says, "I wasn't thinking about myself there, but about a friend who had gone off to war, a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn't go the other. Even more important, Frost first wrote part of the poem in a letter to his friend, Edward Thomas, and they often walked together throughout the English countryside while Frost lived in England (Timmerman 70). Frost's poem, written at the early part of the 20th century (published in 1915), also indicates something else that is missing in our lives today, and that is the luxury of taking a slow walk through the woods. Many of Frost's poems are about choice in one way or another. Through it all, Frost celebrates choice, decision-making, and the natural world, leaving the reader to discern their own meaning from this classic poem. Frost's poems often celebrate the natural world, and this poem is not exception to that rule. Today, many people grow up never seeing two paths such as these in the woods, and that illustrates just what is missing in our lives today. Two more critics write, "So it is with human nature: One reaches such a point, one makes a decision, one travels on. Critic Timmerman continues, "The beauty of the world around us slips away under the weight of the need for pragmatic decisions" (Timmerman 72). Frost did not know it at the time, but he was illustrating something that would soon disappear in American lives, and that is a deep appreciation for the natural world, and the ability to enjoy it at any given moment. At first glance, it just seems to be a poem about walking through the woods, but it is really much more than that. Again, this relates to choice in the poem, because choices are never easy, and yet, they must be made as we travel the road of life.
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