Robert Frost The Road example essay topic

Robert Frost "The Road Not Taken" was written back in 1916, yet its message is timeless. Robert Frost has taken the moment-to-moment occurrence of decision-making and transformed it into a literary work we are able to visualize with our minds eye. Frost idealized this process to create a long lasting impression that would be a source of inspiration and encouragement to all its readers. Frost begins his poem at the fork of two roads.

He knows he must keep moving forward, but his dilemma is choosing which road to take. In an effort to explain the difficulty in this decision Frost begins by writing: Two roads diverged in yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both, And be one traveler, (719) Frost first line say's "Two roads diverged in yellow wood". Frost could have simply said two roads separated in yellow wood, but this would have taken away from the deeper meaning. Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary defines diverge as "to move lie or extend in different directions from a common point: branch off".

We are always at a common point or a point of origin when new roads or decisions are placed in front of us. The decision to select the correct path is so critical, Frost daydreams of traveling both roads simultaneously. Have we not been in this position at one time or another? This would be such a perfect world if we where able to experience multiple directions simultaneously, and be one traveler. There would be no questions as to what is best. You would experience everything first hand that each path has to offer, and come to an exact conclusion as to what is best.

Unfortunately we are held in check by our human capabilities, so we must come to a single conclusion. Robert goes on to say: long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; In like terms we perform the exact same process when we make deceisons. We analyze one of our options until we are unable to see or reason anything else about that option. So here Frost is, standing at the fork in the road unable to travel both roads simultaneously, so he does the next most logical thing.

Frost studies his options. He studies and makes observations on each road to look for reasons to take one or the other. In the next stanza lets see what Frost notices: 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, (719) Here we are again with our two roads or decisions before us, having examined both until they " [bend] in the undergrowth". We are still unable to decipher one being better than the other. With the same critical eye Frost examines the other road. Even though both roads appear to be "really about the same" there is something about one of the roads that lures him to it.

Frost states, "Because it was grassy and wanted wear"; We can associate this with our human instinct, or pure gut feeling. We may not have the exact reasons behind the choices we make but if our intuition and spirit move us, we are inclined to follow. Frost has now selected a road. Notice what Frost says next: 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.

(719) Evan though Frost has chosen a road he still realizes that there is no real noticeable difference. Each road having been uncharted he could face any out come. He keeps an optimistic tone that if things don't work out on the road he has chosen he can keep "the first for another day!" . In the next line reality comes back into view and Frost checks himself saying "Yet knowing how way leads on to way", This statement ties back into the first stanza in his use of the word diverge. Frost is aware that each path will contain paths of their own so he doubts if he "should ever come back". to the first path. Frost concludes: 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.

(719) Frost states the he "will be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence:" This is true for all who have been placed in the position to make decisions. The only difference is whether the "sigh" is one of relief or sorrow. Our decision making process is refined through time but it always begins the same. We analyze the choices we have before us. Through the process of elimination we narrow or choices. We compare these choices to knowledge learned and gained through experiences on previous paths.

If this is not enough to make a decision, then we must rely on our god given instinct. Robert Frost the road not taken does not provide an answer or a guide to taking the right path but it does give you the perspective a person that is not afraid to move forward. It is better to take a chance on a path than it is to stand motionless at the fork in the road. We cannot and will not progress individually or as a whole if we stand still.

We are able to grow because we have chosen a road. "And that has made all the difference.".