GROUP 2 PRESENTS

MA L IS M A P P R OAC
FOR H
The Road Not Taken
ROBERT FROST
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 –
January 29, 1963) was an American
poet. His work was initially published in
England before it was published in the
United States. Known for his realistic
depictions of rural life and his command
of American colloquial speech, Frost
frequently wrote about settings from
rural life in New England in the early
20th century, using them to examine
complex social and philosophical
themes.
ROBERT FROST
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco
to journalist William Prescott Frost Jr.
and Isabelle Moodie. His father was a
descendant of Nicholas Frost of
Tiverton, Devon, England, who had
sailed to New Hampshire in 1634 on the
Wolfrana, and his mother was a
Scottish immigrant
ROBERT FROST
Frequently honored during his lifetime,
Frost is the only poet to receive four
Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became
one of America's rare "public literary
figures, almost an artistic institution". He
was awarded the Congressional Gold
Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. On
July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet
laureate of Vermont.
SUMMARY
In the poem, the individual arrives at a critical juncture in his life,
arriving at crossroads at last near “a yellow wood.” As per him,
the paths are equally well-traversed and yield anonymous
outcomes. The individual comforts with a thought about
returning, be if his path is unsuitable for him, yet in hindsight, he’s
aware of the futility of such thought. Since his current path will
bring upon separate paths in itself, disallowing any consequent
reversal. The individual concludes on a melancholic note of how
different circumstances and outcomes would have been, had it
been the “other” path.
 MEANING
Robert Frost’s poetic masterpiece is arguably the most infamously
misunderstood poem as of yet. Marrying elements of form and
content, arresting artistic phraseology and metaphors, the poem is
mostly read without being understood. The archetypal conundrum
is the primary attraction of the poem, readers instantly relate to
their personal experiences.

Forks and woods are used as metaphorical devices relating to

decisions and crises. Similar forks are representative of everlasting
struggle against fate and free will. Since humans are free to select
as per their will, their fate is unknown to them.
MEANING

The Road Not Taken’ actually steers clear of advising on selecting

a definitive path. Frost’s take on this is slightly complicated. The
grassy roads and yellow woods represent the present as the
individual views from a future perspective. This self-realization is
pathetic and ironic in itself. The future self will regret first his
decision about taking the road less traveled on. In hindsight, his
regret is everlasting in this case point.
THE STRUCTURE & FORM

The poem has a four stanzas of five lines each. with the
rhyme scheme as ABAAB. The first line rhymes with the
third and fourth, and the second line rhymes with fifth. He
bases his meter on iambic tetrameter, but adds an extra
syllable to each line. In two places, he uses end punctation
of an exclamation point and a long dash to place emphasis
on the speakers hesitantion to make a choice.
THE STRUCTURE & FORM
If the first stanza of Frost’s poem were broken up
into units or feet, it would look like this

Two roads/ diverged/ in a yel/ low wood,

And sor/ ry I /could not tra/ vel both
And be/ one tra/veler, long /I stood
And looked/ down one/ as far /as I could
To where/ it bent /in the un/dergrowth;
THE STRUCTURE & FORM
Meter in English poems is usually one of five types
- Iambic, Trochee, Spondee, Anapest, or Dactyl.

Iambic - consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stress

syllable
Trochee - is the opposite, beginning with a stressed syllable
followed by an unstressed syllable.
Spondee- both syllables are accented.
Anapest - starts with two unstressed syllables followed by one
stressed syllable.
Dactyl - is the opposite of an anapest with one stressed syllable
followed by two unstressed syllables.
THE STRUCTURE & FORM
Meter in English poems is usually one of five types
- Iambic, Trochee, Spondee, Anapest, or Dactyl.

Iambic - consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stress

syllable
Trochee - is the opposite, beginning with a stressed syllable
followed by an unstressed syllable.
Spondee- both syllables are accented.
Anapest - starts with two unstressed syllables followed by one
stressed syllable.
Dactyl - is the opposite of an anapest with one stressed syllable
followed by two unstressed syllables.
THE STRUCTURE & FORM
loose iambic included some of the other types of meter. For
instance, in the first stanza, the meter would look like this -
Two roads/ di verged/ in a yel/ low wood,
- spondee/iambic/anapest/iambic
And sor/ ry I could /not tra/ vel both -
iambic/anapest/iambic/iambic
And be/ one tra ve/ ler, long /I stood -
iambic/dactyl/iambic/iambic
And looked/ down one/ as far /as I could
- iambic/iambic/iambic/anapest
To where/ it bent /in the un/der growth; -
iambic/iambic/anapest/iambic
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
& POETIC DEVICE
Repetition: the repetition of words
Imagery: Vivid sensory details that create mental pictures:
- “His haunted and spell-bound face."
Personification: Giving human qualities to non-human things:
- "The haunted house stood half-demolished and abandoned."
Simile: Similar to a metaphor, a simile compares two things using “like” or “as.”
“His eyes sparkled like stars.”
Metaphor: A metaphor compares two unrelated things, suggesting a hidden similarity.
“Her laughter was a bubbling brook.”
Symbolism: Using objects or concepts to represent deeper meanings. The dove symbolizes
peace.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
& POETIC DEVICE
Alliteration: This delightful device involves repeating initial consonant sounds
in a series of words. For example, “Wicked Witch of the West” or “political
power play.”
ANAPHORA the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive
clauses.
ASSONANCE in poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in
nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be
discernible
ENJAMBMENT in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause
beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. "he uses enjambment less than
many poets"
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Stanza One
‘A Road Not Taken’ opens with strong imagery, because of the diction used to depict
two physical roads separating from each other in “a yellow wood.” It is observably a
forest that is showcasing the colors of autumn.

Line two is hasty to display the theme of regret, by revealing that the individual is “sorry”
before he even decides which road to take. We basically find ourselves observing a very
important moment, where he has to make a decision that is evidently difficult for him.

Lines three through five, express that the individual is trying to see as far as he can
down each road, to help him decide which one he should choose to take.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Let’s thoroughly analyze the lines and their meaning below.

Lines 1–2
The first two lines of this stanza introduce the dilemma that every human faces, not once, but
multiple times in his or her life; the dilemma of choice. We as people go through many
circumstances and experiences in our lives, and one of them is choosing between two (or
more) paths.

This is experienced literally: in the roads we take and the routes we walk daily, and
figuratively: when we come to points in our lives where we must make decisions for our next
steps, based on the opportunities presented to us. And like the character in ‘The Road Not
Taken,’ oftentimes, we are disappointed that we cannot hold on to, and experience the
consequences of every opportunity that is presented to us. In order to gain some things in
life, we must let others go.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Lines 3–5
By having the character in the poem examine the roads ahead of him, Frost is emphasizing that
we all try our best to guess what lays ahead for us in every opportunity that we are presented in
an attempt to find some control and later comfort over our final decisions. We like to take our
time in order to make informed decisions so we can justify our choices when the regret of
missing out on the other “roads” starts to haunt us.

Stanza Two
In this second stanza, lines six through eight: the individual in ‘The Road Not Taken’ finally
makes a decision and chooses a road that he thinks and believes is better, because it looked
like not many people had walked on it before.
However, in lines nine and ten, he is quick to add that the other road looked equally used in
comparison to the one he chose, so it really was not as less traveled as he was telling himself.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Lines 6–7
These lines are important because they clarify the common misunderstanding that one road was
less traveled than the other since the character clearly states that both roads were “really about
the same.” The diction in this stanza portrays the uncertainty of the character as he tries to justify
to himself that his decision is the right one for him; and much like anyone else, he is trying to
realistically weigh the outcomes of both roads.

Lines 8–10
The important idea to note in these lines is that the character claimed the road he chose was
better because it “wanted wear” meaning that it was tempting him. He felt that the road he chose
“wanted” to be walked on by him. This underlines the nature of people in general, that we will
always choose the path which seems attractive and is of interest to us, even if both paths have
the equal potential of getting us to wherever it is we are headed.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
That said the word “want” has historically been used to represent a lack of something. For example
“the house was in want of repair” so perhaps the suggestion here is that the path is overgrown
because it is less travelled.
Either way no matter where we end up, and how informed, tempting, and satisfying our choices are,
we will always wonder about the “what ifs” and the “could have beens” of the other opportunities
that we left behind.

Stanza Three
In the third stanza, Robert Frost mentions in lines eleven and twelve that at the moment that this
individual was making his decision, both paths were nearly identical. No one had stepped through
to disturb the leaves on both roads.
Line thirteen is an important point in ‘The Road Not Taken’ as this is when the individual finalizes
his decision of leaving the other road, for perhaps another time.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Lines fourteen and fifteen give us a glimpse of his doubts. He honestly confesses to himself that it’s
highly unlikely he will come back to travel this other road because he knows as he moves forward he will
continue to find other paths taking him further and further away from this point, where he is standing at
the moment.

Lines 11–12
The lines show us that this character is truly being honest with himself, as he makes the crucial decision
of which road to take. His honesty is a reality check as well as a means of making a final decision. He
notices that both choices lay equally in front of him and none of these choices have been “trodden black”.

Sometimes in life, when we reach a fork, we are able to make quick decisions based on what we learned
from other people’s experiences. These experiences then leave marks in the choices that we have, these
marks then form our bias towards or against that path. When we encounter choices in our lives where we
find that the leaves are not “trodden black” by what we learned from the people around us, it becomes
harder to decide between them, just like the situation of the character in ‘The Road Not Taken’.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Lines 13–15
After making his decision, he exclaims that he will leave the first choice for another day. Then he honestly tells
himself that if he lets this road go now, there is no coming back. There are many defining decisions in our life
that shape our future and sometimes when we select an option in these moments, they change the course of
our life and there’s no turning back. That is where the regret of not exploring our other options disturbs us.

Stanza Four
In this last stanza, lines sixteen and seventeen, the individual predicts that one day far into the future, he knows
will tell the story of this decision that he is now making.

Lines eighteen and nineteen expose that he intends to lie and claim he took the less-traveled road. In reality,
both were equally traveled.

Finally, the last line expresses that the individual is also planning to claim that his choice to take this less
traveled road made all the difference, in where he will be standing at the time.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Lines 16–17
These lines of the last stanza highlight the nature of our regrets. When it comes to tough decisions in our lives, we
always know that no matter what we finally choose, eventually, we will regret not being able to try the possibility that
was left uncharted by us.

In this stanza, the character is already imagining the regret he will feel and decides that he will not be honest when he
retells the story of his decision, as it will not validate his selection of the road if he showcases his regret by stating that
an equal opportunity could have landed him elsewhere in life.

Lines 18–20
He decides he will tell people he chose the road that was “less traveled by” to come across as a person who took a
chance and succeeded in life. In reality, the character is trying to convince himself that when he shares his life
experiences and distorts the truth, it will seem that taking this road “made all the difference”.

This teaches readers that they never know where life will take them, so preplanning what the end of the
road looks like for themselves, and building regret is silly especially if they haven’t even started the journey
in the first place. Life is about the paths you do choose to walk through, not about “the road not taken.”
THEME
Choices and consequences

SYMBOLISM
1. "Two Roads": Shows different choices in life.
2. "Yellow Wood": Means it's autumn or a time of change in life.
3. "Undergrowth": Shows the hidden parts of the chosen path.
4. "Grassy Road": Means the less popular, harder path.
5. "Leaves": Show how others' choices affect our decisions.
6. "Roads Equally Lay": Means both paths look equally good.
7. "Bent in the Undergrowth": Shows life's twists and turns.
8. "Passing There": Shows how past choices affect the path's look.
TONE
Reflective and contemplative

MOOD
Nostalgic yet hopeful
 CARPE DIEM
The term "carpe diem” is used to describe a
genre of poetry that seeks to "seize the
day.” It inspires readers to live as well as
possible.