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Road Not Taken Analytical Essay

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The poem, “The Road Not Taken” written by Robert Frost in 1915 is a poem that is about life choices, and which path a person chooses to take in their own life. Adam Plunkett of the New York Times labels “The Road Not Taken” as “the most popular poem in American history (Plunkett, 2015).” David Orr, a scholar and literary critic, did an in depth analysis on how “The Road Not Taken” is a lot more than a person taking one road rather than another. As Orr states talking about the poem, “it plays a unique role not simply in American literature, but in American culture —and in world culture as well (Orr, 2017).” It starts with the first line of the poem, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, p. 624).” Frost paints a picture for the reader, to envision walking on a path, and making a choice on which path seems …show more content…

Continuing on, Frost states, “And sorry I could not travel both (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, p. 624).” These two lines are very important to pay attention to. There are two roads, and the person can only pick one path. Sometimes, a person picks the wrong path thinking it is the right path. Furthermore, the person ends up figuring out when they start going through the bumps and potholes of the path, or as seen in life the troubles and trials. They want to start saying sorry about making the wrong choice on which path to take. The poem starts to get really deep during line 11, “And both that morning equally lay (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, p. 624).” This is one of the most important lines of the poem. The title is called “The Road Not Taken” however, line 11 is saying both of the paths are the same in the layout. Orr states, “the road he will later call less traveled is actually the road equally traveled. The two roads are interchangeable (Orr, 2015).” This poem is far more than just picking one path, it forces the reader to truly think about what Robert Frost is explaining

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