Some critics also call this poem ‘The World Less Traveled’. Hence, the poet has given his poem the title “The Road Not Taken”. Man yearns for what he has denied himself in life, rather than what he has chosen. Many times, we regret the choice made by us, but what is done once cannot be undone. 'The road’ is the symbol of the choice made by us in life. The Significance of the Title The Road Not Taken/ Path Not Taken If the choice made by us happens to be not correct, we have to face the consequences as steps once taken cannot be retracted. Hence, our decision is a shot in the dark though our future is dependent on it. The choice we make has far-reaching consequences.

Man being an individual cannot take up all choices. The two roads serve as a metaphor for the choices we make in life. “The Road Not Taken” deals with the dilemmas that man faces in life. Rhyming abaab, the poem has remarkable simplicity and clarity of style and language.

Some of the best known famous poems of this four-time Pulitzer Award winner poet are ‘Mending Wall’, ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’, ‘The Onset’, ‘Provide Provide’, ‘Neither Far Nor in Deep’, ‘Death of the Hired Man’ and of course 'The Road Not Taken'.įirst published in 1916, “The Road Not Taken” shows Frost at his best as a pastoral poet who combines rustic simplicity with hidden, indirect and implied meanings.

Despite the surface cheerfulness and descriptive accuracy of his poems, he often presents a dark, sober vision of life, and there is a decidedly thoughtful quality to his work.

He became one of the country’s best-loved poets after a lot of struggle.

After publishing the second book, Frost returned to America, determined to win a reputation in his own country.

Frost moved his family to England in 1912 and the following year, a London publisher brought out his first book.

Frost attended Dartmouth and Harvard but never earned a degree, and as a young man with a growing family, he attempted to write poetry while working on a farm or teaching in a school.

Despite his later association with rural life, Frost grew up in the city and published his first poem in his high school magazine. His style is unique because he usually employs a kind of moral lesson after describing a scene or an incident. Frost was honoured frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry.He examines complex social and philosophical themes. Instead of imposing arbitrary resolutions, he gives a fair chance to each side for reconciliation. At the centre of most of his poems lies an antithesis (contrast) between fact and fancy, reality and imagination, pleasure and purpose, nature and civilization, country and city.He admired the qualities of honesty, simplicity, love and hard work. Frost employed traditional patterns, or as he said, he chose “the old-fashioned way to be new”.

The road not taken literary devices