Life consists of choices, and no matter how people initially evaluate these choices, when it comes to determining the best decision, one cannot predict the outcome of preferring one choice over another. Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken illustrates the aforementioned dilemma of choices, in the form of a symbolic metaphor, in which a simple decision of a path to choose in the woods can be applied to people’s journey in life with many “diverged roads” ahead of them.
The narration of the poem is rather simple, focusing on the choice of the narrator to choose one of two diverged roads in the woods. Preferring one over the other, the narrator, acknowledges that he will unlikely ever come back to choose the other.
The mastery of Frost can be seen when readers perceive the poem as a personal reflection of the numerous times they stood on similar divergent roads. The obvious comparison between the choices, where one seems to be easier, is deceiving, as the choices are “about the same.” The readers might envision themselves looking back at the choice they made, and even pretend that all the differences in their lives are a result of them taking the difficult path, but nevertheless, it will never be known.
Although told from a first person perspective, it could not be more obvious that the poem is a generalization of people’s common responses, specifically outlining the irony that can be sensed in Frost’s verses, “Because it was grassy and wanted wear”;” Oh, I marked the first for another day!”; “I shall be telling this with a sigh.”
Frost’s poem can be assessed in the context of an experienced person, who not only transferred a complex meaning into a four –stanza poem, but also was able to portray the slightest details of the dilemmas of choice. In that regard, it can stated that Frost vision on choice and what is most important- regret, truthfully reflects the nature of decision making.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. “The Road not Taken”. 2009. Web.