Analysis Of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a very simple yet very symbolic poem. It’s a poem regarding various choices that one has to make in life and then live by the outcomes of the decisions made. The consequences of ones choices might turn out to be positive or negative but these decisions have a significant impact in the way one’s life turns out to be.
The poet, Robert Frost, begins the poem with describing a walk in the forest on a fall day as the leaves are turning yellow. As he walks, the road forks and comes a moment of decision regarding which direction to take. This is a metaphor for the times in life when one has to choose one path or decision over another. Making this decision is difficult for him and he thinks for a long time …show more content…
Life’s choices and decisions are compared to roads and forks in the path. He specifically points out that the paths were almost identical, this symbolizes that in life one has to make choices without having much knowledge of what we are choosing between and how that will impact our future. The lines “And looked down one as far as I could and “To where it bent in the undergrowth” are a metaphor for how we cannot look ahead to see where the choice we make might lead us in the future. Another important theme is irony. The line “I will be saying this with a sigh” shows the speakers remorse about making that choice. The irony is also reflected where he thinks he chose the right path but throughout his life keeps on wondering how things would have turned out to be different if he would have taken the other path, especially when there wasn’t any evident difference between the two. In fact the title of the poem “The Road Not Taken” emphasizes the lost opportunities as a result of not taking the other path. In taking one path over the other, he lost his chance to take the other one and the outcomes that would have resulted from taking the other