“The road not taken” BY ROBERT FROST
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 lay
In 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.
Picture Analyze:
stanza 1
- Line 1: The picture is well described to the situation in the poem
- Line 2: A man’s shadow and the two branches in front of him reveal the regret that he expresses in the poem, because he can only choose one path.
- Line 3: He is the only one traveler on the road. It’s consistent with the picture.
- Line 4: In the picture, use author’s perspective look as far as he can, but the further the blur until he can’t see.
- Line 5: The man in the picture stands at the bent as described in the poem.
stanza 2
- Line 6: After looked down one road for a long time, the narrator looks down the other road, which is more pretty and clean. Perhaps it is clean, the phrase “just as fair” may describe the second path is more attractive than the first path. The narrator hesitates which way is the best; he wants to make own a good choice that will not get him to disappoint.
- Line 7,8: The narrator is telling us that the second road seems better than the first one. By analyzing the phrase “grassy and wanted wear,” the reader can guess this path may be a greater choice for the narrator.
- Line 9,10: The man in this photo is thinking about what road he wants to take, same as the narrator of the poem, they both can’t determine the path that they want. After the narrator says that the second road is better than the first one, he just realizes that both paths are the same. The narrator could not make up his mind and make him a decision.
stanza 3
- Line 11: The speaker realizes that both roads’ morning are equal and the image that I chose is also represent that.
- Line 12: The paths are covered with the leaves and the speaker notices no one take either path. The poet uses imagery to describe the scene of autumn and gives the audience a strong image. it is same as the picture that I find.
- Line 13: The speaker already regretted his decision and he wants to take another path in other day. With an “Oh” at the beginning and an exclamation point at the end, this line is emphatic. The picture with two colours- yellow and grey that has a strong visual image and it can represent this tone of the poem.
- Line 14-15: The speaker realizes he cannot come back and try another path. He knows how one path lead on to another path. Once the decision is made, then he does not have the chance to do again.
stanza 4
- Line 16: The poet regretted that his choice was not as good as the expression in the picture.
- Line 17: The clock of the picture represents a moment after years.
- Line 18: The picture is well described to the situation in the poem
- Line 19: The poet chooses the path that less people walk on as the left side of the picture.
- Line 20: The poet thinks that the choice will have different results, just like the leaves on the left and right sides of the tree can make people feel different, so there will be different outcomes for two paths.
Music Analyze:
The tone doesn’t have a significant change from the beginning till the end, so we decide to use the same song throughout the poem; however, in the first three stanzas, due to the narrator haven’t determined which road should him pick and go, the music expresses the sense of hesitation and expectation. In the last two stanzas, the narrator regrets the decision that he made, so the music sounds a little bit somber.
Analysis “The road not taken”
“The Road Not Taken,” written by Robert Frost, published in 1916 as the first poem in the collection Mountain Interval. It was a Lyric poem that talked about the choice people’s own life. The speaker considered a fork in the road. He chose one path rather than another for his entire life, but he regretted what he chose at the end. The poem addressed a psychological and related to some social problems. It was written in the first person point of view and the narrator was speaking to people who made the decision but regretted. The connation was used in the title, “road” was also mean the choice of life that would affect people’s entire life in the poem. In stanza 1, line 5, “To where it bent in the undergrowth, ” the word, “undergrowth” had its actual meaning which mean some plant and green of the wood. The diction of the poem from sigh, one traveler, perhaps the better claim that could indicate the tone of the poem. It is a serious poem. From the beginning, the speaker hesitated in which road should he take. Then, he chose one and perhaps it was a good decision. The speaker had the positive and optimistic attitude to face the difficulty of chose his life. Unfortunately, when he looked back after many years, he realized that probably he made a bad decision, “ I shall be telling this with a sigh…” (Stanza 4), the speaker was disappointed with his decision and hoped to have a chance to choose again. So the tone of the poem from optimistic changed to sorrow and regretful. The poem made up of four stanzas and each stanza had 5 lines. The rhyme scheme of the poem was ABAAB. In the first line, “two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” the poet used metaphor and he compared a folk in the road to many different choices that happened in life. In stanza 3, “And both that morning equally lay/In leaves no step had trodden black,” the poet used imagery that gave the audience a strong image and made the audience associated with the scene of autumn and the beautiful leaves. The repetition used in line 18, this line repeated with the first line “Two roads diverged in a wood, ” the poet emphasized the choice that he had made. The poet used his experience told people that once the decision had made, and then it could not change. The regret always happened in life and chose people’s own path that would make all the difference.