The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

The “Road Not Taken” is a poem written by Robert Frost. This poem written in iambic tetrameter is about the speaker being at a junction of two roads and having to choose which one to follow; it is a metaphor for making choices in life and the different paths that are offered to us during our lifetime. The main theme of the poem is binary nature and is reflected by both its form and content. However, I argue that a close analysis of the differences presented by the dual nature of the poem, illustrates that in fact, the two paths are the same. To do so, I will first analyse the form of the passage and how the patterns and rhymes –even though they are different- reflect similarities. I will also show how the alliterations of the poem can also help to see that the paths are equal. Finally, I will do a close analyse of the last stanza and how those verses in particular are relevant for the roads being identical.
The form of the poem follows its binary nature. Indeed, for each stanza, there is always two types of rhyme, which do not cross over into rhymes of other stanzas. For example, in the first stanza, there are two kinds of rhymes: “wood, stood” and “both, undergrowth”. Those rhymes do not appear in any other stanza such as the second stanza that uses assonances like “fair”,” wear” and “claim”, “same”. From the second verse of each stanza the rhymes are also embraced. The fact that the rhymes do not mix provoke a separation between those two roads and it is emphasized by the line 14 “yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” (Line 14.) The speaker really differentiates the two paths and for him there is no coming back in order to take the other one. But, at the same time, the rhymes are embraced (ABBA) and by extension so are the roads. Here again, there is a similarity, which is also emphasized by the line 14; the statement that “way leads on to way” is literally true. Indeed, there is a repetition of the two same words and how...