Eng 102 - the Choices We Make: Examinig "the Road Not Taken"

The Choices We Make: Examining "A Road Not Taken"

31 July 2011

English 102

OUTLINE

I. Thesis Statement on A Road Not Taken

A. Regret or satisfaction

B. Choice and consequence

II. Theory about the meaning behind the poem

A. Second stanza

B. Traveler and his options

III. The setting of the poem

A. Emotions experienced

B. Unknown future

IV. The title and its interpretation

A. Simple or complex title

B. Ulterior meanings of the title

V. Making the choice

A. Living with the choice you made

B. Having the guts to choose

The Road Not Taken is a simple, yet contrastingly complex, meaningful poem about a simple walk on an unsure road in the woods, which leads to places only the traveler will know as the choice unfolds. This is a poem told by the narrator, but based on the readers' outlook on life. At first glance, Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken", is about a walk on a leaf-littered road in the fall woods, but it has a more significant meaning of how it feels to live with life's certainty, uncertainty. The poem is celebrated as one of Frost's masterpieces, created with a unique style, ironically, forcing the reader to make a choice as well, on the opinions created from each readers unique perspective. In the end, a sigh by the lone traveler could mean regret or it could mean satisfaction, which is up to the reader to define. The Road Not Taken has memorized readers for almost a century forcing people to think about the choices in life, not unlike the protagonist facing his own simple choice and the consequences that follow him for the remainder of his life.

Regret and hindsight are one possible theme to the poem"A Road Not Taken". The uncertainty of life and what the future holds is yet another. This poem has been debated for years about what Robert Frost meant by one his best works. It is important to note that after reviewing many opinions about the poem on Yahoo, Sparknotes and Enotes, the same theories abound. Most feel the poem infers that life is not easy, but if you work hard, then good things will happen for you. In my opinion, this stance is incorrect. When read carefully, the second stanza states that both roads are worn the same and that neither appear to have been traveled in some time, due to the leaf litter covering each road, which when disturbed, will turn over the decomposing leaves to expose a "trodden