Robert Frost and "The Road Not Taken"
Robert Frost, in his poem, "The Road Not Taken," reflects on the choice that he made when which changed his life. Nevertheless, the poem is also a reflection of the path Frost did not take, and this engages the reader into psychological criticism. Psychological analysis enables the reader to understand not only the inspiration behind the writing of the poem but also what the writer did not intend to include. While the poem might be interpreted differently, "The Road Not Taken" adopts a metaphorical and a symbolic language to infer to real-life situations where people cannot avoid making decisions, which produce consequences, either good or bad (Steiner, and A. David 131).
The Metaphorical Title
To start with, Frost engages the reader in a brainstorming activity using the title, "The Road Not Taken." Literally, by looking just at the title, the reader might think that the poem explores a physical road, which the author took. However, for one to decide to follow a certain route, it means that they had to forego another way or ways. As such, the reader wants to know, why is the author writing about a road, which he never took and one that he has no experience rather than writing about the road he took? At this moment, there are a lot of ideas flowing through the reader's mind and it takes full comprehension to realize that the title is metaphorical. "The Road Not Taken" refers to the choice that was left aside in preference for another (Steiner, and A. David 131). What is more, the title is not clear about who made the choice. Is it the author? Or could it be that Frost is narrating about someone else? The reader, therefore, starts delving into the poem expecting to know who the subject of the poem is, how the path not taken looks like, and why not the path which was taken, only to be shocked.
The Choices We Make in Life
In the first stanza, Frost faces two paths in the woods but is sorry because he had to choose one of them and as such, he had to contemplate, which one to follow. Since the poem is about the decisions, or rather the choices we make in life, the author might have been in a situation where, whether he liked it or not, he had to make a choice and therefore, he had to think about the choice that he was to make. The first stanza has metaphoric as well as symbolism, which challenges the reader's mind. For instance, in the first line of the first stanza, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" (Frost 8), is a metaphor used to indicate that Frost is at a crossroad where he is facing choices. Since the roads meet at a wood, which is yellow in colour, it means that the speaker needs is experiencing the event during autumn, which symbolizes that he is getting old.
Contemplating the Future
Moreover, the writer stood long thinking about which path he should take. At this point, the reader is able to relate with the real world in the sense that there comes a to me in our lives when we need to make a choice but before doing so, one has to assess what will be the outcome of those choices. Therefore, we need to be careful of the decisions we make. Frost might have been motivated to write this poem based on his experience (Steiner, and A. David 131). For example, maybe he was confronted with a situation in his life when he was not young and therefore, he has to critically think of a choice he would make.
Taking Risks and Uncertain Outcomes
Also, in the first stanza, the author focuses on one of the roads and tries to predict what his future would look like if he took it. The reader wonders why he has focused on one path and might perhaps, conclude that it looks promising compared to the other one. However, in the second stanza, the speaker takes the other path and therefore, the one which he had concentrated on becomes, "The road not taken." The reader cannot understand why all of a sudden the author had chosen the road they did not anticipate, which can mean that the Frost loves adventure (Steiner, and A. David 131). It also shows that life is a matter of risking when we do not know what lies ahead. However, the author convinces himself that the road he has taken is better since it is not worn out, even though the two paths were equally good. This communicates to the reader that the choice made is less common but it might, after all, be as good or as bad as the other one. Perhaps Frost had observed that in life, many people make choices that they can at least be certain of the outcomes but only a few like taking risks.
Regret and Reflection
Finally, when the speaker writes that: "Oh, I kept the first for another day!" (Frost 9), is questionable. Why does he have to follow the road which he did not follow? Does he regret? Most likely he does because if he does not, he would not be wishing to follow the road not taken.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. “The road not taken: A selection of Robert Frost's poems”. Macmillan, 2002.
Steiner, Adam P., and A. David Redish. "The road not taken: neural correlates of decision making in orbitofrontal cortex." Frontiers in neuroscience 6 (2012): 131.
