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How is my analysis of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost??


alswn95 11 / 28  
Apr 28, 2010   #1
My teacher didn't give us any rubric it should be a page long, its 3 pages, and just talking about the theme and tone, etc.

Sometime in our lives we have to make momentous decisions. We either have made a propitious selection or regret our decisions. The poem, "The Road Not Taken" written by Robert Frost is how a road chosen by a traveler had an impact in his life. Through his poem, Frost have shown that the decisions we make should be chosen carefully because not only will it affect our choices in the future, but there is no going back.

Throughout the poem, Frost has addressed the idea of making decisions in a melancholic manner. The first stanza revealed the situation: the speaker came across a fork in a road and has to decide which road to take, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," (1). The line, "And sorry I could not travel both," (2) apprises that he wants to take both roads, however, since it is not possible he decides to make a choice- the other road. "Oh, I marked the first for another day!" (13). His dream of taking the other road someday is crushed by reality. "Yet knowing how way leads on to way/I doubted if I should ever come back," (14-15). This reveals that the decision he had made has already affected the decisions in the future as well. We do not know if the speaker will regret his decision, however, he does tell us that he will be "telling this with a sigh," (16). The sigh can be the cause of happiness or grief by taking the "less traveled by road," (19). However, rather good or bad, it already "made all the difference," (20), therefore, he will have to accept his decision.

In addition, we should be able to take risks with our decisions. The speaker chose the less traveled road, "Because it was grassy and wanted wear," (8). His use of personification embellish the idea of taking risk with decisions. Grass cannot want wear; however, the use of personification has revealed that this road has not been taken by most people. We should make choices if it looks like "the better claim," (7) to us. By taking the less traveled road, it illustrated the speaker's individualism. The last line of the third stanza has contradicted his whole theory about the two roads being different as he says, "Had worn them really about the same," (10). This is ironic because the first four lines was about how the other road was different from the first. This reveals that there wouldn't have been much difference in the two roads, but still in the future, it would make the difference. "Somewhere ages and ages hence:/Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,/I took the one less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference," (17-20).

"The Road Not Taken" is one of my favorite poems of all times because it emphasizes the importance of decisions. I am who I am today through thousands of decisions I made in the past. Sure, it unlocked new paths for me, but some opportunity doors will be eternally closed. I have regretted the choices I have made, but I have learned that nothing can be done about the past so I learned to accept it.
Notoman 20 / 419  
Apr 28, 2010   #2
There are some grammar issues that need to be cleaned up. You have some words that don't quite fit as well (faced, repent. I only looked at the first paragraph, but there is a misspelling there "traveller"should be "traveler." I don't know how your teacher feels about the use of the first person (I, my, we, our), but my teacher flips out over it.

Look at your first paragraph ... there are three different verb tenses. Put everything into the "literary present." I've highlighted the verbs tenses in this passage. You have present, past, and then future.

Sometime in our lives we are faced to make momentous decisions. We either made a propitious selection or repent about our decisions and how our lives could have ended up if we had chosen a different path. "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem about how one traveller will choose a road that will change his whole life. The decisions we make in life should be chosen carefully because there is no going back.
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129  
Apr 30, 2010   #3
If you are writing about the poem, you should make a thesis this way:
"Frost seems to be showing that the decisions we make in life should be chosen carefully because there is no going back."
If you just write, "The decisions we make in life should be chosen carefully because there is no going back," it will seem like the main idea of the essay is this. But actually, the main idea is to be about the poem.

Once again, it made me realize the importance of decisions. Redundant

I see that you have a topic sentence about his melancholic way of portraying decisions. This is good for supporting your thesis. Bu this does not support the thesis:

The third stanza is the shift of the poem containing the major irony of the poem.--- change it so that it says something to back up the claim (your thesis)

:-)
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129  
May 3, 2010   #4
Through his poem, Frost have shown shows that the decisions we make should be chosen carefully not only because will they affect our choices in the future, but also because there is no going back. (now add a sentence to "sharpen" this thesis statement and make it even more specific.) Then, end paragraph one.

Your MLA is good, BUT leave out the comma:
fork in a road and has to decide which road to take, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," (1).
fork in a road and has to decide which road to take, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" (1).

There should be no comma near the parenthetical reference. Like this:

The line, "And sorry I could not travel both" (2) shows that he...

If you need a comma, it goes after the parentheses like this:

However, rather being good or bad, it already "made all the difference " (20), and therefore he will have to accept his decision.

:-)
OP alswn95 11 / 28  
May 4, 2010   #5
Can anyone please strengthen my conclusion. I want to say that because of my choices some doors are closed for me and I will never know about it like Frost never knew what will happen to the road not taken.
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129  
May 6, 2010   #6
You should check out these figures of speech.. like... "unlock new path" is not quite right.
"opportunity doors" is not right...
...I am who I am today through after thousands of decisions I made in the past. Sure, it These decisions sent me along new paths, yet some windows f opportunity doors will be eternally closed, and I will never know what I missed. Yes, I have regretted the choices I have made in the past, but I have also learned that nothing can be done...

:-)


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