Two Roads example essay topic

Analysis of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost Robert Frost is the author of the poem The Road Not Taken, he is a man of many faces. He has written poems and books explaining why humans are the way they are. Unfortunately, it seems to me that this leads to a generalization of the human species as a whole. Along the way in his writings he has made blanket statements about human nature and what he believes is the right way to go about choices and crossroads in life. Also, he has established himself as a great metaphorical writer on many levels.

He has written works that deal on religion and politics but never really saying exactly what it's about. This makes the reader need to look deep into the rhetoric and past the surface, just look into the real soul of the piece. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood". From the beginning sentence one can understand that the person who wrote this poem is a very deep thinker. It is marked with symbolism and metaphorical thinking, The symbolism in this paragraph explains the choice between two of life's many options. It's directly related to fate in that there are only two roads that can be traveled.

The diverging is symbolic of the distancing between the two decisions. Both are far apart, yet they started from the same point. The person speaking (the author) says that he looks down both the paths, trying to see where they may lead but he can only see so far. Eventually the underbrush of both paths shrouds the rest of the path including its ending. The author uses weird ways to rhyme the words. It doesn't have a lot of rhythm to it, it's very hard to read this the first time and understand it completely.

He also uses a very interesting sentence structure; it's divided into two distinct parts. The first part being a vague statement, the other becoming more specific. The author says that he makes the decision to take one of the roads, although not saying exactly which one. He chose the one because he thought at the time that it was better looking, more pure and easier to look at and travel. But then he goes on to look at the other path and notices that they both look about the same. The author uses a great deal of metaphors, I mean after all he's talking about a main theme of which choice in life he should make.

Within the third stanza, the author becomes confused for he's second-guessing himself. He takes the two roads and tries to find the one with the most faults, for that will be the one he will avoid. But the more he looks the more he sees that both the paths are almost identical, so which one does he choose? He begins to think that maybe if he takes one road today, he " ll end up back in the same place if it's wrong and he can try the other path the next day. And again he second-guesses his judgement by saying that once he leaves he doesn't know if he wants to return to this place.

There are footsteps only on one of the paths so he also has a choice of either taking the path less or most traveled by but still unknowing the outcome. In the last stanza of this piece, the author comes to terms with his decision and states that he opted for the road which not many people have traveled before. But he starts this stanza reflecting on all that he had thought about in the past stanzas, and in the end he delivers his verdict. Somehow, however, he makes the statement that taking this road has changed his entire life, and possibly even how he views things today.

This poem can be applied to many different scenarios in human life. From the differences between right a wrong to the simple question on what is the smartest thing to do. But according to this poem, everything starts from the same place; it all depends on how you choose your own road. Still, the general tone of the poem is one of critical thinking; the decisions should not be made lightly for everything counts.

Also it reminds us that "not everything that's popular is right and what's right may not necessarily be popular.".