ipl-logo

Popular Culture In Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

753 Words4 Pages

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is a classical piece of poetry from just short of a hundred years ago. Even though it is often misinterpreted it has still made its way into popular culture. People believe that Frost advocates breaking away from societal norms and choosing the road less traveled but, in fact he doesn’t, he mentions the road not taken rather than the road less traveled on, either way it has influenced popular culture in a variety of ways. “The Road Not Taken” has made its way into popular culture in numerous ways such as the names of episodes of TV series for example Fringe Season 1, Episode 19, a version of the very popular “Cup Song” from Pitch Perfect (2012) and “The Road Not Taken” is available on Youtube and merges …show more content…

The character of Piper explains that “everyone thinks the poem means to break away from the crowd and do your own thing, but if you read it, Frost is very clear that the two roads are exactly the same. He just chooses one at random. And then it’s only later at a dinner party when he’s talking about it that he tells everyone he chose the road less travelled by, but he’s lying. So the point of the poem is that everyone wants to look back and think that their choices matter. But in reality, shit just happens the way that it happens, and it doesn’t …show more content…

I believe that most movies, advertisements, music videos or TV shows that involve any form of decision making or situation of the ‘grass is always greener on the other side’ or even of ‘what might have been’ has influences from this particular piece of poetry. We see characters in shows contemplating a situation as minute as what dress to wear to something major such as should one quit their job or not, are they not all cases of which road to choose and which one will be the road not taken? After my 12th grade I too was caught at two roads, should I apply only to the college of my choice and risk taking a year off or apply to colleges I didn’t want to study in, in hindsight I realize that here too, there was a road not taken. Every decision we make is essentially a case of the road not taken. People have been making decisions before Frost even wrote this piece but now, for most people who have read this poem, when making a decision we associate it, possibly inadvertently with “The Road Not Taken”. The poem to a certain extent whether misinterpreted or not is looked at as a cliché because of how much it has fused with everyday life and the choices we make but, still it goes on to influence pop culture worldwide in a vast

Show More
Related
500 Words | 2 Pages

In the poem "The Road Not Taken," the speaker faces a similar choice of paths. The speaker is presented with two paths and has to choose which one to take. The speaker eventually chooses the less traveled path, knowing that it will make all the difference in their life. The speaker understands that the road they choose will shape their life and that choosing the less traveled path will lead to greater

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

In the poem, “The Road Not Taken,” the short story, “The Reunion, and the novel, The Summer I Turned Pretty authors show how characters come of age through their own actions by making decisions and psychology or emotional revelations. In the poem “the Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the main character has to decipher two roads. The two roads have different outcomes, eventually chooses the harder path and resulted his/her best decision. The narrator sees a fork in the road.

Read More
610 Words | 3 Pages

“Road Not Taken” is a renowned poem by a famous American poet containing a message about life’s choices that is familiar to most people. Donald M. Murray uses the notoriety of the poem’s message to his advantage by alluding to it. In doing so, he emphasizes the similar message of his essay about how innocence causes blind decision making and the way in which people look back on those

Read More
1870 Words | 8 Pages

As the poet Robert Frost once exclaimed “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—took the path less traveled” I too encountered the fork in the road. In fact, not only did the road diverge, it splintered and fragmented into a mad mess of tiny unmarked trails in a glowing enchanted forest. Japan Airlines flight 291: After graduating from the University of Minnesota, I packed my bags and set out for adventure. With the Robert Frost poem resonating in the back of my mind and a scene from the movie Dead Poet’s Society, “Carpe Diem: seize the day” in my head, I packed my bags and bought a one-way ticket to Narita Japan. I travelled across Asia and through Vietnam and into Thailand.

Read More
652 Words | 3 Pages

I remember reading some of his poems as a child, some of his easier poems of course. As I grew older, I begin to realize his importance to poetry, and read more of his meaningful works of literature. One particular poem, “ The Road Not Taken” is a poem that I read and connected with. This poem is one of Frost’s most popular piece of art, and I agree. Basically, “The Road Not Taken” is about a person who is at a crossroad, a fork in a “path”.

Read More
598 Words | 3 Pages

Dictionary.com defines peer pressure as “social pressure by members of one 's peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted”. What many people do not experience is the same type of pressure, but within the family. Death of a Salesman is a prime example of a once happy family that turns into something sour. It is discussed multiple times, in the play, about family member’s futures in the business world. Biff, the son of Willy and Linda Loman, has the dream of working out on the farm.

Read More
778 Words | 4 Pages

By the end of the poem, we have learned that the difficulty of choices is that sometimes you really have to let fate take the lead. The use of symbolism with the paths shows that it doesn’t matter which side has been taken more but which is the best one for you. Frost’s use of a metaphor and symbolism helps us clearly understand the meaning of the poem and what he is really trying to say. “The Road Not Taken” is a poem in which we learn that sometimes we have to let fate take the lead. With the use of literary devices and tone we acquire that this poem is trying to show us that life is a mixture of both life decisions and fate.

Read More
853 Words | 4 Pages

When reading the poems “The road not taken” by Robert Frost,and “O’Captain,My Captain” by Walt Whitman it is evident that both have a great deal of distinctions, as well as commonalities. The first poem,“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a symbolic story of a young man discovering his path in life. “The Road Not Taken” begins during Autumn, in the woods. The speaker,a young man, takes a stroll along a road. Eventually,he reaches a point in which the road diverges into two.

Read More
1032 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout this poem, Robert Frost uses extended metaphors to convey that every human has a path that causes them to constantly make choices that will continue to shape their lives. In the first lines of the poem, Frost states, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/ And sorry I could not travel both” (Lines 1-2). Immediately, the idea is established that the speaker has to make a decision.

Read More
1267 Words | 6 Pages

However the author expressed himself by speaking about the road that he took, but the poem is called the Road Not Taken, Could it be that all this time Mr. Frost was speaking about the road he didn 't take? An article called "The Poem Everyone Loves And Everyone Gets Wrong" talks in behave of the poem 's title and give you fact of how the author came about the poem. The article states how the poem was originally called Two Roads. Frost then wanted to challenge readers and ask them self question as of what was the poets ideas, what did the author want to tell the readers.

Read More
994 Words | 4 Pages

The poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost was about a decision. Two inviting roads existed in front of the speaker, but he could only choose one to travel in the rest of his life. No one knew which road was better or what’s waiting for him in the future, there seemed plenty of imaginary spaces left to the audiences. However, instead of focused on the importance of his finally choice: the road taken, more attentions was given to the given up choice: the road not taken. The writer’s opinion was explicitly showed in the title ‘The Road Not Taken’; which meant from the very beginning it was a poem about lost, not gain.

Read More
740 Words | 3 Pages

And that has made all the difference.″ these are not only the poem 's best – admitted lines, but the ones that gain what most readers take to be its central image: a lonely path that we take at tremendos risk, possibly for great reward. So lucid is that image that many readers simply conclude that the poem is called ″The Road Less Traveled″ are extremely typical, and even accomplished critics routinely refer to the poem by its most famous line. But David Orr argues, the road not taken, of course, is the road one did not take – which means that the title

Read More
1777 Words | 8 Pages

There will come a time in every person’s life where he has to make a decision that could alter his life forever. In fact, this exact situation may occur multiple times in his existence. In trying to make the right choices, a person might weigh both options and take into account all the possible effects and arguments for each. For example, when he was growing up, Robert Frost would take strolls with his friend, Edward Thomas, who would constantly face the struggle of choosing the right path and would always worry about whether he made the right decision. In his poem, “The Road Not Taken,” Frost portrays this relatable clash of choices.

Read More
1036 Words | 5 Pages

In the poem, “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost uses beautifully crafted metaphors, imagery, and tone to convey a theme that all people are presented with choices in life, some of which are life-altering, so one should heavily way the options in order to make the best choices possible. Frost uses metaphors to develop the theme that life 's journey sometimes presents difficult choices, and the future is many times determined by these choices. Throughout the poem, Frost uses these metaphors to illustrate life 's path and the fork in the road to represent an opportunity to make a choice. One of the most salient metaphors in the poem is the fork in the road. Frost describes the split as, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both (“The Road Not Taken,” lines 1-2).

Read More
1010 Words | 5 Pages

The poem, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost states that in life we come upon many decisions, and there are points where we have to let fate take the lead. “The Road Not Taken” uses two paths as a symbol of a life decision. To understand this poem you have to have understanding of life’s meaning. The author helps us better understand the message by his use of tone and literary devices such as metaphors and symbolism. In this poem we come to realize that life is a combination of decisions and fate.

Read More

More about Popular Culture In Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

Related Topics

Open Document