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| Critical Appreciation of The Road Not Taken |
The critical appreciation of the poem The Road Not Taken will help you a lot to understand this poem. Though this is one of the easiest poems by Frost, the thing that is tough about it is finding the symbolic meaning of this poem. If you read the critical appreciation of this poem then you will understand this poem well.
Critical Appreciation of The Road Not Taken
The poet was faced with the problem of deciding which way to choose when in a wood he was at a fork of the road. He could not take both the roads at the same time. He stood there for a long time Weighing in his mind which way to travel. He looked down at one of them. He found it trodden by people before.
When he looked down at the other, it looked comparatively fresh or less trodden. He took the less trodden one though he was doubtful if he would ever be able to come back because one way usually led to another. His decision was momentous, and it led to his success in life. He guessed he would be able to tell the ages to come that he had made the right choice.
That is the simple story of the poem. On a symbolic level, the poem admits different interpretations. One interpretation is possible, and seems to be the most important. Every man is faced with the problem of having to choose between alternatives at some time or another in his life, and immediately, or on the spot. In such a situation he cannot afford to waste time in dilly-dallying or hesitation.
The far-reaching consequences should be visualized, but that does not mean procrastination or hesitation for a long time. Choice is inevitable in life, and one has to suffer the consequences of his choice whether good or bad.
The poem is of 4 stanzas, each of the stanzas being a quintain or quintetto. The rhyme-scheme of each stanza is absolutely regular abaab. The meter is mainly iambic tetrameter, with frequent variations which break the monotony of regular rhythm, and lend variety and vitality to the rhythmic structure. Elizabeth Jennings admires Frost’s skill in handling meter.
She says, ‘“Frost’s verse is formal, even at times stately; its movements are often easily anticipated. Yet, despite this, his technique is so flexible, his handling of language and cadence so careful and delicate that he is able to give his most elegant poems the air of spontaneity”.
Frost’s language is colloquial, homely, and apparently unpoetic, yet a sensitive literary idiom emerges from his writing. We find in him a “selection” of the language used by common man. He avoids the use of conventional words like “creative imagination” and inspiration. In the present poem, there is no word that cannot be understood by a common man. .
As a poet of man, Frost looked upon life as rather bleak and gloomy. But he does not stop at that. He is willing to remedy and rectify or solve human problems. His philosophy of life seems to be that man must do his duty sincerely and devotedly, and leave the rest to God. In his short lyrics, like the present one, Frost excels in his poetic art.
This poem is one of the poems included in Frost’s book of poems named Mountain Interval published in 1916. It deals with the problem of having to make a personal decision which involves alternatives. It is written in quintet, with a complex rhyme scheme abaab. Frost has very successfully handled this complex rhyme scheme.
The poet was faced with the question of which way to choose when in a wood he was at a fork in the road. Being one traveler, he could not take both roads. He long stood weighing in his mind which way to travel. He looked down at one of them. It was trodden, but when he looked down the other, it looked fresh and untrodden.
He took the untrodden road though he was doubtful if he ever would be able to come back because one way usually led to another. His decision was momentous, and it led to his success in life. He guessed he would be able to tell the ages to come that he had made the right choice.
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