Narration and Description in Frost's “the Road Not Taken”

Narration and Description in Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”

Robert Frost was an extraordinary poet who wrote from his heart. He is known for his use of everyday objects and settings in his poems. Many times he uses nature, such as trees, birds, rain, and flowers, for subjects in his poetry. As simple as they may seem, the poems are much more detailed than meets the eye. He also writes from many different perspectives, for example first person omniscient. In his poem “The Road Not Taken”, Frost creates an analogy between a walk in the forest and moving through life. He also writes from a first person narrative, as if he were not only representing himself in this walk but everyone else in the world, in particular the reader. In this poem, Frost shows that each person comes to a point in their life when they have a choice of how to live. There are two different paths, and he took the path in life most do not, which ultimately benefited him.

In the first stanza, the walk through the woods is set up, and the choice he faces is presented. In the first line, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, he words “yellow wood” indicates a “scared world”. When having to make a big decision in life, having to choose which way to go, many are scared. Line two shows that the option of taking both paths and shying away from making the decision is not an option, which is unfortunate. The last three lines of the stanza really indicate he is by himself and he thought long and hard about the decision. Lines 4-5 show that he tried to “look down one”, meaning he tried to see his future if he followed the path. He looked down “to where it bent in the undergrowth”, meaning he could only see as far as to where it was time to, in a sense, grow up. Frosts use of narration is quite helpful in this because it makes relating to the poem easy for the reader, as he is in an almost “all mighty” narrator, speaking for himself and everyone else.

Frost’s use of description is highlighted in the second stanza, especially in Line 8. The phrase “grassy and wanted wear” means not many had walked down the path, and he felt as if he should for the mere fact no one else did. Many people have a desire to be different than everyone else, and it is a good thing. Frost shows this desire, saying the path has “the better claim”. This “claim” is being less traveled, almost speaking out to him to travel this way.

The beginning of the third stanza exhibits that he did not follow anyone when making his decision. “And both that morning equally lay, in leaves no step had trodden black.” When reaching this divergence, neither had much bearing over the other, making them equal. “In leaves no step had trodden black” indicates that