Poetry Assignment - Research Paper Example

The style of the poem is ubiquitous within Frost’s poetic works, with a formal rhythmic scheme, which is A B A A B, which also leads to the theme of the poem, which Frost has purposely left ambiguous, and teeming with symbolism (Stedman, p 114). The first two lines of the poem are very famous: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both…” (Frost, p 10) The first two lines enrapture the reader, making them wonder about which road did he take? Why did he take one over the other?

If this is a poem about the road not taken, where is it going? Perhaps this ambiguity was purposeful, as it was not a road that the author took, but more about the road the individual did or did not take. It leaves the reader to wonder in himself about the choices that he has made, or is about to make. There are only two options when making a decision, ultimately yes or no. there are only two roads here, and only one can be traveled. Both of these roads lead to somewhere, but it’s the somewhere that leaves the heart and mind wondering forever if they chose the right or wrong road.

Just like in life, when we are faced with a crucial decision, we try to look ahead, “…And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair…” (Frost, p 10) but still unknowing of what lies ahead. This is something that no one can truly know, what lies ahead in our lives. We can only look so far ahead to see where our road bends in the undergrowth, leaving us questioning in ourselves which one to choose. “And 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…” (Frost, p 10) Here is given the feeling of taking about taiking a different approach, a different road than the one we usually take, the one we are perhaps too familiar with.

They both appear the same, but it leaves a want in the heart to travel the grassy raod, almost as though the soft green grass is calling, calling us to take the softer perhaps higher road. Although, it still remains unkown, which is the better road because they were “really about the same”. In the third stanza, the author is feeling doubt, but also portraying that doubt into the reader. “And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back.” (Frost, p 10) Again, the roads look similar to the eye, but the meaning is deep and relative to the individual. It is understood that he must make a decision on which road to take, as must we all. Frost is imparting a longing or perhaps a loss of what is right and wrong. One way is the right way, but one may be wrong. There is an acknowledgement from Frost, that we as humans will make a decision, and choose the road we want to travel.

Regardless of our choices, Frost recognizes that we will rarely if ever try to go back to the way we were, or where we were to take a different path. Even if we are on a road of destruction, it is rare for the person to back up and take the different road, the one less traveled. We are all trying to get somewhere from somewhere else, and we have to choose which road to travel each and every time. This is truly part of Frost’s magic in words. Finally, in the fourth stanza, Frost seems to have resigned himself to his decision on which