Frost Over View
Jimere Palmer
Instructor: Jennifer Rupp
Sunday, October 06, 2013

Frost Over View
Author, Robert Frost, utilizes imagery and symbolism in his literary work, “The Road Not Taken.” Two roads are given with very descriptive language, so the reader has a vivid understanding and picture of the roads. The two roads Robert Frost descriptively describes are also symbols of the most important factor of life: choice.
What captured my imagination was that fact that I was able to connect with the author with such ease. I have always been a big fan of Robert Frost’s work, so it was very easy for me to become immediately become interested. Before I read this poem, I had already been acquainted with its references in speeches and in congratulatory cards, but I never sought after what the poem actually meant to me. Without even reading the poem and basing my assumptions off the most commonly used references, I would say that the poem was merely about, “Taking the road less traveled (Clugston, 2010).”
The author’s character seems to aspire for greatness. The character is standing at a fork in the road and carefully contemplates the best route. Just like life, we often have to contemplate which decision has the best outcome. I find it curious that the character equally describes the roads; making them identical to one another, yet in the future the character recants and says that he took the road that was less traveled. There is no way that the character could have known this from standing in the fork in the road.
The author and character both desired to escape the association with congruence and conformity. Why would the character look back on his life and say that he took the path that was less traveled, unless he already knew the popular or most commonly chosen path. We must remember that the two paths are symbols of our choices. With that being said, the character likely had the desire to escape making the same choices that resulted in a far too familiar outcome. Let us look at the last