Question

The literal meaning of "The Road Not Taken" is that a person comes to a fork in the road and decides to take the less traveled path. Write a paragraph describing the figurative meaning of the poem. Identify the type of figurative language used, and support your answer with details from the poem.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

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,

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.

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.

Answer 1

This poem details the two paths, making clear the amount of use either has sustained. Frost goes through the visual of examining each path, which is like a person examining what the outcomes might be if they were to choose one of two choices or "paths". He then goes on to say that he hopes he can come back to the fork in the road but doubts that he will. This can be related to when a person has to choose between two opportunities of somewhat equal appeal, they know they must choose one but still hope that the other might become available again sometime in the future. Then Frost goes on to say that the path he chose, the "one less traveled by", has "made all the difference". It can therefore be interpreted that by taking the leap, taking the risk, has helped him greatly. Frost makes good use of repetition, similes, as well as metaphors. He also uses elegant descriptions to help the reader visualize the paths.