Appreciation of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Appreciation of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost was a famous American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. He does different jobs in rural areas in New England in the early twentieth century, and writes poems by using his personal life experiences. His poems examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. Robert Frost was born in a teacher family, spent his childhood in the western United States. After graduating from high school, he graduated from Harvard University after two years of study. He worked as a weaver, teachers and farm. His life journey is not smooth at all. He has moved to different places and has had many different jobs. Meanwhile he began to write poetry. But his poems didn’t bring to the attention of the American. In 1912, Frost was 38 years old. This year he made ​​an important choice: give up his teaching in a normal school, so he had to give up the flat and stable life. He chose the poetry. He said to himself: "though I’m poor, I would keep writing." The Rod Not Taken is one of the best known poems by Robert Frost. It was published in 1915, in the collection Mountain Interval. He put his thoughts and feelings into the poem. His poetic style is simple and meaningful. This poem is a fine example, its language is Concise fluent and simple, and it is easy to understand. The form of this poem is: four stanzas of five lines each; all lines are capitalized, flush left, and of approximately the same length. The rhyming scheme is so rhythmical and familiar to readers that it sounds like music when the poem is read. The poem has 4 stanzas. They can be divided into two layers. The 1-3 stanzas are the first layer. In a yellow wood, I’m facing two roads. After thinking deeply, I decided to choose the road less travel. In this layer, the poet describes the selection is not a hasty decision. He goes through a complex psychological process. On the road of life, he arrives at a point where he must decide which of two equally appealing (or equally intimidating) choices is the better one. He examines one choice as best he can, but the future prevents him from seeing where it leads. He selects the road that appears at first glance to be less worn and therefore less traveled. It suggests that he has an independent spirit and does not wish to follow the crowd. After a moment, he concludes that both roads are about equally worn. Leaves cover both roads equally. No one on this morning has yet taken either road, for the leaves lie undisturbed. The speaker remains committed to his decision to take the road he had previously selected, saying that he will save the other road for another day. He observes, however, that he probably will never pass this way again and thus will never have an opportunity to take the other road. The stanza 4 is the second layer. It is the author's feelings many years later. He wants to telling others about the choice he made. While doing so, he will sigh either with relief that he made the right choice or with regret that he made the wrong choice. Whether right or wrong, the choice will have had a significant impact on his life. This tells us that in everyone’s life, he or she may face a lot of options, we must make decision, and we must consider a lot. In some degree nobody can judge which one is the right and which is the wrong one. The problem is that, once we make a choice, and take a road, we cannot come back. When we recall our choice after many years, we will know that everything began to change the moment we took the road. Every choice will have an impact on life; Choose a different road, the fate would be different. The Road Not Taken centers on the concept of choice. The road that the speaker is walking on is splitting in two directions, and he has to decide which way to go. This road is not just in the woods, but also represents a decision in his life. Something in his life is changing, forcing him to make a choice. Yet he has a really hard time deciding – one moment, he thinks one way is better, the next, both paths are about the same. Whether or not he has a reason why the choice he makes is better, he has to make it. And that choice changes his life. In the life, there are many roads that people can choose. But one person can only choose one way. People have to give up many other choice, because the life is to short to everyone. Choosing the road of life has a lot of contingency and randomness. Those roads people have not chosen made people more miss. The poets did not write the chosen path, while focusing on the road not taken. It drew the readers’ attention to think of life, to think deeply about the choice. Selection is inevitable. No matter which way you choose, you never know what it means unless you go over, and we don’t need to regret what we don’t choose. In a word, The Road Not Taken is a very beautiful and excellent poem. It is simple in form but profound in meaning. This poem depicts a man and the attitude when he facing the choice. But the poet didn’t write the thing he has to choose. Everyone can find his own experience like the poem said. It gives a lot of space to think. Everyone has such a complex psychological experience, Frost wrote it into a well-known masterpiece. The poem conveys the common feelings of human. Abstract: The Rod Not Taken is one of the best known poems by Robert Frost, simple and beautiful in form and its meaning is deep. There are many different opinions on the theme of The Road Not Taken. Most of them think that people should not follow in other’s footsteps and should be brave in research, choose the road less travelled. This paper tries to analyses the form and the meaning of The Rod Not Taken. Key words: form; meaning; poem 6