The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost Essay Example for Free

The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost Essay The poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost strikes me as having a dual meaning.   One perspective of the poem seems to be a statement of advice for people to take the â€Å"one less traveled by†.   Another perspective is that the â€Å"Road Not Taken† may be the road that he took and he was sorry he has chosen that path for some reason or another.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To start with the discussion, I will first discuss the first perspective that of the inference to â€Å"The Road Not Taken† as an advice for people to take.    The author took the first person stance using the words â€Å"I† throughout the poem.   This could be interpreted that he, himself has done what he is advising for others to do to take the â€Å"one less traveled by† (fourth line, fifth stanza). Usually this phrase is used for people who have taken the road that is righteous and the one that is harder to travel or go by but which is the right thing to do.   It is also thought of as the hard but nevertheless, the way to be successful in life.   The author made use of a lot of imagery and metaphors like â€Å"yellow wood† referring to the seemingly yellow path as affected by the daffodils that bloom at the pathways that he often takes with his friend in Massachusetts, at the time he wrote the poetry.   He also describes the road less traveled by as â€Å"grassy and wanted wear† perhaps this is so for lack of travelers trudging in its grass.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Meanwhile, the other perspective or interpretation that could be entertained with regards to this poem is the author’s tone towards the end of the last stanza â€Å"I took the one less traveled by/ And that has made all the difference† seems to denote that he was sorry for the choice he made.   The tone is that of sadness and he uses the line â€Å"I shall be telling this with a sigh†. The next line also situates the point of reflection wherein the author says â€Å"Somewhere ages and ages hence; Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by,†Ã‚     The metaphor of the words ages and ages hence places the time or hour of recollection at a much recent time after he made his choice, or since the time he made his choice, and decided his course of action.   It implies that this choice was made a long time ago and the last stanza gives a clue as to the outcome of that choice.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aside from the two possible scenarios that this poem can be interpreted into, there are also some conflicts of imagery.   These conflicts are stated in the use of the lines â€Å"Because it was grassy and wanted wear;† indicates one path or road obviously still has a lot of grass untouched by trudging feet or passers by.   However, the last two lines goes, â€Å"Though as far that the passing there/ had worn them really about the same†, describing both paths and roads as equally traveled or trudged upon by travelers.   This seeming conflict in imagery, though I would interpret as the author’s state of mind, when he was presented with a dilemma or a proposition of which road to take. He seemed to be weighing his options and was in the process of balancing his final decision as to which road to take and sees that there is not much difference in the outward appearance of both paths. In conclusion, the poem in general takes a positive, albeit sad remembrance of the choices in life that the author has made.   But what he seems to be sad about is that he must have wanted to take as many paths as he could, but only he could not as the time of choice is well past already.   Still, the author encourages people and readers to take the road less traveled, for although it presents more challenge and probably even hardship, it is usually the right path to take.