The second stanza starts off with the speaker talking about the other path, and how he looked just as hard, just as long, and just as fair on this path as he did the first. This is exactly what he does when he looks down the first road, at the end of the first stanza. All he can do is look as far down each road as possible, and hope that he decides upon the right one. I believe that as he stands before these two roads he is really confused and scared as to which road to pick. Evidently he does not want to decide upon the wrong road and mess up the rest of his life. A word that strongly helps out the imagery, helps to describe the uncertainty of the speaker, and implies that he may be scared to even choose a path.

The important decisions we make in life will have unalterable consequences that are incredibly difficult to predict. Life is like those woods because no one can clearly see or predict what will happen in the future, only hope to choose a path that will lead you to good fortune and happiness.Īnother interesting part of this verse is how he describes the woods as yellow. Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken is a beautiful allegory depicting the moment when the speaker must choose between two roads but is unable to determine which direction has the better claim. If you were standing at the edge of some woods you would not be able to clearly see what was ahead of you, because it would be obstructed by trees and branches.

Using this as an image helps to have a better understanding of the complexity of the problem that the speaker is facing. This line is a metaphor in which Frost uses the woods to represent life. In the first verse of the first stanza, Frost says 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,' which is seemingly a very important part of the poem. In this poem the speakers tone, diction, and setting help to illustrate the struggle a person goes through in their lives to pick the right road to travel.

It raises the evident question of whether it is better to choose a road in which many travel, or to choose the road less traveled and explore it yourself. Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' shows the uncertainty as to which road of life a person should choose.

The road not taken tone