On a Tree Fallen across the Road In Robert Frost’s English sonnet, “On a Tree Fallen across the Road”, Frost uses imagery, alliteration, metaphors, personification, and symbols to portray his theme. Frost uses all of these literate devices to bring out his point in the poem; overcoming obstacles. He believes that we will always face struggles in life and come across unexpected surprises that may or may not be good. This does not mean that this will stop us in our tracks, but will help shape us into better human beings by giving us choices. He also believes that as humans we have hidden in us the motivation to strive to get what we want in life and where we want to be by making these difficult decisions. The way Frost portrays this main
Another metaphor is used when Frost writes “Not though we have to seize earth by the pole”, not as in we literally need to grab the pole of the earth, but by grabbing life by the reigns and taking charge of your own life and steering it onto the path that you want. Frost uses the pole of the earth as an image for the readers to envision because the earth is massive compared to us and no matter the size of earth or the problem we can grab ahold of it and lead it in the direction that we want.
Frost then ends his sonnet with a couplet that reiterates the idea of not giving up on overcoming the difficult obstacles. People get tired of going around in aimless circles, trying to find the best option and falling short of their goal, but what they really need to do is just focus on what is right in front of them and ‘steer straight’ as Frost would say. Sometimes people need to take a step back and actually look at the problem that is right in front of them because they can get too caught up in the idea of finding a solution and not thinking about the actual problem at hand. Frost uses multiple metaphors and imagery to help his readers envision exactly what he is trying to convey. Even the title “On a Tree Fallen across the Road” is imagery. As soon as readers read it they envision a giant oak tree blocking