Lifetime of decisions
Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Some decisions to these choices are clear while others are sometimes more difficult to make. The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a first person narrative tale of a moment in the speaker's life. The poem is in the past tense; therefore, the reader knows that the narrator is reflecting on a past experience. Frost can be considered the speaker in the poem. Frost is faced between the choices of a moment, walking down a rural road and encounters a point on his travel that diverges into two separate similar paths. It raises the evident question of whether it is better to choose a road in which many travel, or to choose the road less traveled and explore it for yourself. Each reader comes away with a slightly different meaning from the poem; their human condition will probably dictate the context in which they will interpret the poem. Frost uses symbolism to demonstrate that everyone is a traveler who chooses the road to follow on his or her journey in life. While the speaker chooses which path he ought to take in the woods in "The Ro
" The author shows man's attempts to tell which path is better by trying to foresee what they will behold down the road. "(3-4) the speaker is faced with a decision. In other words, both roads were in about the same condition; it is what the man does with his choice that makes the difference. At the end of the poem the regret hangs over the traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. The narrator becomes more confident towards the end, but definitely less confused and scared than he was earlier in the poem. The speaker's sight is limited to what his eyes can only see on the path until it bends into "the undergrowth. "Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim,"(6, 7) what made it have the better claim is that "it was grassy and wanted wear. In the first verse, Frost says, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," This line is a metaphor in which Frost uses woods to represent life. "(8) While choosing the "less traveled" road represents the gamble of facing a more difficult path in life in hopes to achieve an incomparable and satisfactory life, contrasting the more familiar lives other people take. It is impossible to foretell the consequences of the major decisions we make and it is often necessary to make these decisions based on little more than examining each choice. There are many equally valid meanings to this poem, Frost may have intended this. The traveler seeks to be unique and go against the grain of society. If someone was standing at the edge of the woods you would not be able to clearly see what was ahead of you, because it would be obstructed by trees and branches.
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