Frost’s Figurative Phrases | Teen Ink

Frost’s Figurative Phrases

April 9, 2012
By brooke112345 SILVER, Scottdale, Pennsylvania
brooke112345 SILVER, Scottdale, Pennsylvania
9 articles 5 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
In the end, it&#039;s not the years in your life, it&#039;s the life in your years.<br /> Be who you want to be; not what other want you to.


“I took the one less traveled by,” said the speaker of “The Road Not Taken.” (Frost Line 19) This line is in regards to the choices one must take in life. Clearly, the speaker had some sort of experience with a hard decision, just like the author did. Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in California, San Francisco. He was an American Poet and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Frost was indented to be a traditionalist poet but came to be a Pulitzer Prize winner for being a universal experience. More into his personal life, he had a lot more problems than many. He had to deal with many deaths including his own daughters, his father, his son, and his wife. Slowly, Frost became more of a dark poet and wrote about dark emotions he felt. Sadly though, Frost died of complications following an operation on January 29, 1962. (Class Brain) Before he died though, he came up with an amazing poem called “The Road Not Taken,” which is about somebody wanting to take back a mistake they made in the past. Robert Frost shows this by his use of his mood, word choice, and title significance.

One thing that makes me think that it is about looking back on past is the mood. For this poem, I think a good mood would be reflective. I think this because of the way he looks back on the past and the way he talks about it. The way he does this makes it seem like it was a hard decision, but he keeps talking about. The more and more he talks about it, makes it seem like his life is just dragging on. When life drags on for someone, it’s most likely due to the fact of something wrong they did in life.

Another thing that makes it seem like Robert Frost is regretting his past is his word choice. For example Frost says,” I shall be telling this with a sigh,” I instantly think of regret or someone being miserable. If Frost used a different, more cheerful, verb, like smile, it would be obvious he is happy with his decision. Also with Frost’s last line,” And that has made all the difference,” seems to have a negative meaning due to the use of words in prier lines.

Also a big clue is the title significance. The title, “The Road not Taken,” senses that the speaker/author was looking back at the past thinking about the road not taken in life. If you read the poem, especially that last stanza you are able to tell the title is more of a regret thing. If the author would have named it something like, “The Better Road Taken”, it would have shown that out of the two, the road he took was better. Clearly the author is relaying the message that he thinks about the life he could have had if he took the other road/path.

All in all, I believe that Robert Frost meant to write the poem in a looking back/regretting way. As I said before, I believe this due to the mood, the word choice, and the title significance. Without them, the poem may have been focused on a happier way of life. “And that has made all the difference,” said the speaker of “The Road not Taken.” (Frost line 20)


The author's comments:
My review of "The Road not Taken.'
This was a school project.

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