Commentary On The Road Not Tak :: essays research papers

The poem is basically about a person who has at some point in his life been posed with a question of which path to take. Obviously, there would be a dilemma on his part and the poem revolves around his decision. Frost’s narrative style has lent itself to a certain amount of ambiguity in what he is trying to convey. This ambiguity that Frost has left the reader to contemplate is basically divided into two schools of thought. The first is that Frost has a regret for the choice that he has made and he is relating the hardships of that choice to the reader. The alternative is that he is simply trying to make a statement about life and harbors no regret towards the choice that he has made. The first theme to be considered is that of Frost’s analogy of one’s life being put onto some sort of timeline and he has used roads to illustrate the idea of many possibilities. The use of nature in the same line â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood† gives an almost organic-like appeal. This helps us to integrate roads into the natural environment and it gives an impression that the decisions that we have to make are natural. The divergence of the two roads into the same place (a yellow wood) symbolises Frost’s departure into the real world (because of the singularity in â€Å"wood†). This could mean that the wood is being compared to the â€Å"unknown† world. Again, in the first stanza there is the start of the ambiguity in the very colour of the wood. A strong believer in the view that Frost has given a regretful tone to the poem will point out that there is a significance in the very colour of the wood. This is because yellow represe nts autumn time where the stigma is that everything around him is dying and because of life he still has to continue. Furthermore, there is the inclusion of the second line â€Å"And sorry I could not travel both†. This could mean that he is regretful because he will never know what the other path offered. On the other hand it could also be interpreted that it is plain curiosity which has led him to say this, not any regret for what he has failed to do. Frost has used a clever illustration of the continuance of these roads to depict the uncertainty that life holds.