Poetic Elements in the Song The Road Not Taken - Essay Example

The last stanza of the song gives expression to a common feeling that no matter what kind of choice one makes, he will always have the suspicion in the back of his mind that the other road could also have been taken, that it could have been better. There is always the thought that one has missed something that he could have gained if only he had been able to experience the other way. The fact that he chose the road less traveled by has had a great significance in his life.This poem basically expresses regrets on the lost opportunities of life.

Instead of talking about what he has gained and achieved by taking the road he had taken, he thinks about how life could have been different if he had chosen the other path. This is why the poem is called "The Road Not Taken"- the main focus and attention is on the road he has not taken, not on the one he has taken.The poem can be seen as an expression of mans eternal struggle and search for the right way of life, especially when having more than one possibility and not knowing what to choose.

The poem expresses the fact that we are limited in our choices, and that is why we always sigh when we speak about the option we gave up.The symbolism can be seen in the two actual, physical roads which are a crossroad and from which he must choose one road to travel. These are actually symbols to two roads in life from which he must choose one, follow it and plan and continue his life according to the one way of life that he chooses. The roads seem quite alike, but one is "less traveled by".

This means that this road is the unlikely one; the one fewer people practice and go with. It seems more unique and challenging to him, and that's why he chooses it. Also, the use of the color yellow for the forest symbolizes a time of transition and changes in the poet's life, and may even refer to a transition in the seasons of the year- as the autumn begins and the leaves are yellowing.