Robert Frost's the Road Not Taken Analysis

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Robert Frost’s “The Road not Taken” Analysis Robert Frost’s Poem The Road Not Taken is one of simplicity and regularity. The structure follows a very common format throughout each of the four stanzas. One can try and read into the poem and draw from it metaphors and complex meaning, but the only way to truly grasp the idea behind it is to read it in a literal sense and later understand it. Frosts poem, though simple, is fraught with irony and contradiction as he explains how he will look back on his past. Frost was extremely emphatic on the simplicity of this poem, both in meaning and format. The poem can be seen to be about many things, but without argument one can say that it is about someone who has come to a fork in the road. This can be seen in the first two lines. The speaker acknowledges that he “could not travel both” as he attempts to peer down the road as far as possible to see what it will be like but it disappears in the horizon “where it bent in the undergrowth”(line 5). The speaker considers each road and comes to the conclusion that “the passing there/had worn them really out the same” (line 9/10). Meaning that there is no road less travelled, they are equally worn. The man tries to bargain with himself saying if he can he will come back and take the other road, but realizes it is unlikely he will get the opportunity as seen in lines 13 and 15. This is a very simple poem in terms of meaning, yet this is also matched by its strict format. The poem follows the same structure throughout the entire piece. There is always a word at the end of the first line of a stanza that rhymes with the last word in the third and forth line of the stanza whilst the second and fifth line also rhyme. The only possible exception to this is the “ence” in the word “difference” in the final line, as normally this syllable does not sound like “fence” but is emphasized
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