ENGL 1302 English Composition II - Free Samples to Students

Analyze the poem, noting poetic devices that have been used in the poem, as well as influences in the author’s life that may have influenced the writing of the poem. The paper and the poem must be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman 12 font. Please be mindful of the usual conventions of grammar, mechanics, and organization.

 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

The American poet Robert Frost wrote the poem, “The Road Not Taken” which was published in the year 1916 within collection called ‘Mountain Interval’. The poem is rich in symbols and it is lyrical in tone that makes it a cherished poem for all times. This essay analyses the poem and highlights the poetic devices that have been used in the course of the poem. The essay also discusses about the influences on the life of the author that have caused him to write the poem.

The speaker that has been presented in the poem meets at a junction on road in the course of walking through the yellow woods. There were two roads that were going in different direction and the poet was left in a quandary regarding which is the road that he should take. In the end, the poet took the road that did not have ant foot-mark and had grass. The roads seemed to be identical and both the roads looked fresh. The poem can be said to be representative of the life of human beings and the various options that people face in their life. The individuals living in the society are compelled to make choices that has a great influence on their life. The individuals have a tendency of pondering at a later stage of life how their life would have been had they opted for a different course in life. The dilemma that people face in their life has been brought forward with the help of the two roads that stood in front of the speaker. The people cannot go for two roads at the same point of time and one has to select an option and move forward in the life. The poem states that human beings have to move towards a particular direction and they do not get the opportunity of coming back to same point and making another decision. The choices that the individuals make in their lives leaves a deep impression on their life and influences their life to a great extent. The speaker of the poem thinks that at a later stage of life he would get the opportunity to talk about the fact that he went on a different path from the common people that has been able to win him rewards. This aspect has been brought out with the help of the last two lines of the fourth stanza, “I took the one less traveled by, /And that has made all the difference. The writer talks about the painful and confusing experience that an individual has to go through in life when each of the options that an individual gets seems to be of equal worth. The fifth line of the third stanza, “I doubted if I should ever come back” talks about the doubts of an individual and the fear of the unknown that an individual has in life.

The poetic device of assonance has been made use of in the first line of the poem while emphasizing on “o” sound placed on the words like road. The poem “The Road Not Taken” can be called a metaphor and the road is symbolic of life. Symbolism refers to the practice of representation of things by making use of symbols. The symbolism can help the reader in relating to the poem who has to face confusion regarding which is the path that one should take in life. Alliteration is evident in the third line of the second stanza in the phrase “wanted wear”. Fork present in the woods are personified and it is indicative of the life decisions that an individual has to make in life. The poetic device of Repetition has been used in the course of the second line of the fourth paragraph in the sentence, “Somewhere ages and ages hence”. It shows the immense amount of time that would have elapsed in between the time when the speaker had to undertake a crucial decision and the reward that the speaker would get out of it in one’s life.

Death of the father of Robert Frost made him move to New Hampshire where Frost along with his family had to reside in a barn from the year 1900 to the year 1909. Robert graduated as the class poet and he attended the Dartmouth University for that of a semester. He dropped out at the University so that he could take classes at the Harvard University. Robert Frost had to make choices in his life and this is reflected in the poem with the help of the two roads that went in different directions. Frost had to send sister Jeanie to the state mental hospital where she died. The daughter of Frost was sent to a mental hospital. There were other tragedies that greatly affected Frost that included the death of daughter Marjorie and the death of his wife Elinor. The daughter of Leslie found Frost pointing his gun at the direction of Elinor and saying that a choice has to be taken as one of them will be dead by the morning. The fears that Robert Frost had was reflected in this poem, “The Road Not Taken”. Frost was occupied with the idea of choices that has been portrayed in the poem, “The Road Not Taken” by the portrayal of the two roads from which Frost had to choose one. Frost distilled the terrifying world into that of the controlled verse and he made use of poetry so that he could engage with life. Frost said that the weak people thought that they were escaping and the strong people felt that they were pursuing. Frost was caught by the dynamics of opposites that bore fruition in the poem, “The Road Not Taken”.

“The Road Not Taken” represents human life and the two paths in front of the speaker indicative the choices that people have to face in life. The choices that people make has a bearing in the life of an individual. The poetic devices of assonance, symbolism and alliteration have been used in the poem to make the idea clear in front of the readers.