write summary on the poem road not taken?
Answers
Answer:
In ‘The Road Not Taken ’, Robert Frost makes a fascinating use of two roads as a metaphorfor life. The two roads serve as a metaphor for the choices we make in life. Thus, the roads are, in fact, two alternative ways of life. The choice we make has a far-reaching consequence. The poet leaves the first roadfor the other day knowing well that he will never get a chance to come back to it again in life. He chooses the second road which is less travelled by and this choice has made all the difference in his life.
Poet Standing at a Junction
The poem brings out the importance of making a choice. Frost uses the two roads as metaphors for life. They stand for two choices, two alternative ways of life and two different directions of life. The choice we make, makes ‘all the difference in life’. The poet stands at a junction in a yellow forest. Two roads are branching out in two different directions. He is a single traveller and can’t travel on both the roads at the same time. He looks at the first road as far as he can see, till it bends in the undergrowth.
Two Roads and the Choice
The other road is ‘just as fair as the first one’. But it presents a better claim in one sense. It is grassy and wants wear. The poet is confused. Finally, he resolves the dilemma. He chooses the other road because it is less travelled by. He leaves the first road for another day.
Poet’s Genuine Doubt
Both the roads lie before him covered with the fallen leaves. When the poet leaves the first road for another day, he has also a genuine doubt. He knows how one way leads to the other and one marches on reaching a point of no return. He doubts if he will ever get a chance to walk on the road he has already left.
Choice Has Made All the Difference
It is very difficult to say whether the road we have chosen will lead us to the desired end. It is very difficult to decide on the spur of the moment. Only the poet will be ‘telling this with a sigh’ that his choice has made all the difference in his life. Perhaps the road that was not taken could have proved more rewarding than the road that was taken. But now he can do nothing as his choice is irrevocable.
Explanation:
Poem Summary
Have you ever found yourself caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to make a difficult decision? Maybe you've had to choose between two equally desirable things, like following a career path to become an astronaut or a doctor. You may have considered the different paths of study or activity each choice would lead you down. We've all been faced with challenging decisions in our lives, and sometimes the difficulty of making those decisions arises from the fear of not knowing if what we choose is right, or what will happen as a result of our choice.
Well, the famous American poet, Robert Frost, once wrote a poem that describes this feeling exactly. 'The Road Not Taken', first published in 1916, is perhaps Frost's most famous poem. The final lines in particular, 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference', are often quoted and referred to as inspirational words that challenge us to overcome obstacles in life.
The poem describes someone standing at a fork, or turning point, in a road in the woods, trying to decide which path he's going to take. He looks down one road as far as he can see, and after thinking for another minute, decides to take the other one because it looks like nobody's been that way yet, and he's curious about where it leads.
He thinks maybe he might come back another day and try out the other path but he has a feeling that the road he's chosen will lead him to new places and discoveries, and he probably won't be back. He thinks wistfully about that road, the road not taken, and where he might have wound up if he'd gone that way instead. Part of him regrets his decision, but he also realizes that the things he's seen and the places he's gone because of the direction he chose has made him who he is.
The Poem's Theme
'The Road Not Taken' is more than a poem about someone trying to decide which road he's going to take on a stroll through the woods. It's actually a poem about the journey of life. The two roads diverged in a yellow wood symbolize a person's life. The narrator's choice about which road to take represents the different decisions we sometimes have to make and how those decisions will affect the future. Think of the expression, 'down the road', that we often use to describe something that might happen months or even years from now, and you'll see how Frost is making the connection between life and traveling.
Frost captures the uncertainty about making decisions and our natural desire to know what will happen as a result of the decisions we make in the first stanza of the poem:
'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'
Here, Frost uses the bend in the road as a metaphor for what the narrator wishes he could see but ultimately can't make out in the undergrowth. The narrator eventually decides to take the other road because it really doesn't matter; whichever path he chooses, he has no way of knowing where he's going to end up.