English Literature

I. Introduction Every day life poses different choices yet some choices are life-changing.
Thesis Statement Road Not Taken explores the magnetism and mystery of paths that were not chosen.

II. Body Analysis of the Poem
Methods Employed by Robert Frost
dramatization of the choice through the description of the literal scene
metaphorical implications of the literal scene
choice of the title
Changes in the moods conveyed
use of consonance and alliteration to express emotions
mood of the speaker at the end of the poem

III. Conclusion Road Not Taken is a powerful poem tackling the magnetism and mystery of paths that were not chosen.

Every moment, every day, there are a hundreds of decisions that are made which clothes to wear, which train to ride, which event to attend. Individuals go through these choices automatically, perfunctorily. And yet there are moments that are pivotal, moments that will influence the rest of one s life. The choice becomes difficult when the options before a person are equally enthralling, but only one path can be chosen. The irony is that even as one path is chosen over the other, the path that was not chosen becomes more alluring and mysterious because one will never know where that path would have led. Road Not Taken by Robert Frost explores the magnetism and mystery of paths that were not chosen.

The poem opens with a scene where a man is facing a crossroads  Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.  He tries to look as far as he can into both paths, straining a glimpse at the foreseeable future. Even as he imagines both paths to be inviting, he knows that he must only choose one. He is confused. He assesses the situation. One path is more worn than the other, suggesting that more travelers have passed through it. The man chooses the grassy path, perhaps to satisfy his need to be challenged. In the end, when the man made his choice, he was still haunted by what he did not choose.
Frost skillfully dramatizes the choice by describing the external and internal tensions. The two roads are both inviting and the man is drawn to both. The mood opens with the character being confused yet resigned. He must take one path and see it through. Towards the middle, his confusion relapses as he is gripped with longing. He though he saved the other path for another day but realized that he has forever lost it. The poem ends with some consolation, that though he could never go back in time to choose the other path, his choice led him to a good place that  has made all the difference.

The choice of the title  Road Not Taken  gives the reader the focus of the poem longing over the path that was not chosen, the hunger to know that which is unknowable. Even as the poem builds on the drama of the decision between the two paths, the central point of contention is still the feelings of the man over the other path.

Robert Frost s strength lies in the solid form of his poetry. The alliteration is palpable as certain sounds are repeated, apart from the a-b-a-a-b rhyme pattern at the end of each line. Another remarkable thing about this poem is the concreteness and accessibility of his metaphor. Being at the crossroads of one s path is one of the most familiar ways by which a person is truly aware that his choice will affect the rest of his life.

The last stanza is very telling of what the man expects himself to feel. Although the time has yet to come for him to measure his days, already, he knows that he will feel discontented. Perhaps because it is in man s nature to choose one path and yet live parallel lives, one real and another imagined. The result of which is utter discontent and longing over possibilities that were lost.

One of the key points to ponder about this poem is that although a man can take only one path, live one life, he is imbued with the capacity to imagine. This imagination has the power to create a diversity of versions of his life that he could have lived but did not. With this power also comes debilitation. Even when one s path is strewn with good things, it is still possible to be gripped with longing over what could have been. This propensity to compare the real with the ideal makes for so much discontent and delusion. The paradox is that the less one knows about a certain path, the more one creates illusions of its grandeur and greatness. This illusion casts a shadow over whatever glow there is on the path that was chosen. The difference between the two is limited only by one s imagination, the longing exacerbated by mystery.

How many of such moments are there in one lifetime Such moments are played over and over in the vain hope that the choice will be made perfect. No matter how happy and content one seems to be in the path that was chosen, the mystery of that Road Not Taken never fails to allure and entice the imagination. Robert Frost through imagery, alliteration, and metaphor has made pivotal the life-changing choice between two roads. The focus on the feelings of the man towards the path he did not take is telling of the propensity of man to dwell on that which is unknowable, even as the difference between the two roads is always imagined, never quite real.