Figurative Language In Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

We have all heard our parents or that old neighbor that greets you every morning when you go outside to pick up the newspaper say to us that our choices are what makes us who we are. We might have even disagreed some just so they could be rebellious others because it seemed illogical how our choices could define us. However, have you ever come to a point in your life where you don’t know what to do next? Where you don’t know the answer to the question? Or the infamous question we all ask ourselves what does the future have in store for us? For generations people have read “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and thought I am who I am because of all the good and all of the bad choices I have made although in contrary to this common interpretation figurative language such as metaphor, symbolism, and irony suggest that our decisions aren’t what define who we are in life or the success or failures we have but rather another one of life's complexities. …show more content…
The poem is being written through the perspective of the traveler where it begins with “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (Frost, line 1). Metaphorically the traveler has arrived at a stop and now is being faced with the difficult choice of choosing which direction to continue on. The poem continues, “and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth” (Frost, lines 4-5). The traveler is now looking down both roads and considering to travel one but he is only able to see so far down it once more representing our future and the difficult choices we make. In other terms the man is looking down both roads attempting to make his choice but in doing so he is considering the states of both roads and which looks more pleasing but less traveled. Similarly, symbols throughout the story represent this internal conflict within the