Michael McDowell is the writer of the screenplay Beetlejuice, directed by one of my favorite directors, Tim Burton. He is a horror/fantasy novelist and screenwriter from Alabama. McDowell was born on June 1st, 1950 and died on December 27th, 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard and a Ph.D in English in 1978 from Brandeis University. He lived in Medford, Massachusetts and had a sister, Ann, and a brother, James.
The titles “The Road Not Taken” and “Hills Like White Elephants,” illustrate significance correlations of responsibility, consequences, decision making and confrontation and acceptance of the future. In the “Road Not Taken,” the road is a symbol of the choice made by us in life, or paths we take in life. Many times, we regret the choice we make but what is done once cannot be undone. The man regrets for what he had denied himself in life, rather than what he has chosen.
In the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the speaker walks in a forest during fall, and he comes upon a fork in the road that splits into two opposite paths. One road appears to be less traveled on, while the other appears more traveled. The speaker describes and contemplates his options, but he decides to take the road less traveled on. Because of his decision, the speaker laments in line 20 that his decision “has made all the difference” (20). Frost uses this metaphor to show how people make important decisions with weight on each side, and how their final choice affects them.
“Frost remarked on his habit that no matter which path he chose each time, he would always sigh and wonder about what might have been down the other path (Kirk 86).” Without the literary element of imagery, one would not be able to understand the paths Frost describes in depth and understand their meaning. Additionally, the nature expressed in “The Road Not Taken” is important because it surrounds Frost in his poem. The yellow leaves represent a developing time period in his life and the grassy roads illustrate two significant choices that have to be made. The nature of Frost’s writing reveals the understanding of Frost’s experience with making decisions.
“The Road Not Taken” primarily focuses on two subjective paths which can be interpreted differently be many who stumble upon the two. While “Birches” compares life’s journey to a wood without paths, no directions, nor instructions and continues to see through the eyes in his youth up to his death. The examination of comparing and contrasting the different journeys in life, and the meaning of the poems will be the main focus, though they are also significant pieces of literature for they both recall past memories in Frost’s life and have shaped him to be the author he was in the early 19th
It’s important for the reader to understand that they road less traveled makes the difference, but it isn’t always a good difference, and that’s why the main message is about decision making and being who you are. Calling back to Ashley Robinson’s analysis, we can see similar points made as well as new ideas introduced. She mentions the power of hindsight in the poem, where whether the choice was good or bad can only be determined retrospectively. She states, “When we’re making choices in life, they might seem inconsequential or like they’re not that big of a deal. But once time passes and we’ve journeyed down our path a little farther, we can look back into the past and see which choices have shaped us the most” (Robinson) which I think is a wonderful explanation of the consequences (good or bad) of our actions and how we eventually realize that the choices we make that we don’t think are important in the moment end up being reflected upon as life
The Road Not Taken is a poem that explains the different pathways available to us. In this poem the narrator comes to a choice. He can’t see the consequences per choice, but he can look down the road and try to guess what some of them might be. He couldn’t decide but in the end he chose a path. He wouldn’t get the other paths consequences but the path
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.
The paths in the woods and the fork in the road that the speaker is stopped at. This is a crisis situation for the speaker. These paths symbolize free will and fate. By saying that we are free to choose, but we do not really know what we are choosing
The speaker in this one poem chooses the unconventional way of seeking out his decision. The speakers metaphor is of the choices we have to make life. The speaker after pondering on the thought of which
Even though sometimes when making a decision you do not know what you're dealing with. In “ The Road Not Taken “ Robert Frost uses symbolism to illustrate the theme of decision making. Robert Frost showed that this person was being torn by two roads/decisions. He wanted to go both ways to discover something new and why they were different from each other but couldn’t because they’re both life decisions and you have to choose one path in life. “ Two roads diverged in yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.”
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.
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.
This fork is a metaphor for a situation in one’s life where a decision needs to be made. Furthermore, this fork in the road represents the pause that all must take when presented with
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.
