The Reader Response Approach to Analyzing The Road Not Taken
Monroe J. Baskins
ENG 125: Introduction to Literature
Ashley Dornbusch
03 June 2013

The reader response approach to analyzing literary works is very important. Your interpretation of a work will always shape what the piece means to you, and this interpretation will make the literary work much more enjoyable because of your understanding or the work and also your ability to relate to it in your real life. Keeping in mind that your interpretation may not always be correct. “The response approach describes what happens in the reader’s mind while interpreting a text and it reflects that reading, like writing is a creative process”. (Lin & Sher, 2000) The literary work that I chose is The Road Not Traveled, it captured my interest because of my back ground and the adversities that I was presented with in my adolescent years as I progressed to adulthood. My interpretation of this work is what made me realize that it fit perfectly and that I could surely relate to it. In the poem, the author spoke of the two roads diverging in the yellow wood. I related this to my environment, which presented me with two choices, succumb to peer pressure or go my own way, which was symbolized by the diverging roads. He stated that he looked down the one road as far as he could it bent into the undergrowth, which in my life meant that I could see what the route of peer pressure brought, but only to the point that mistakes were made that convinced me that I didn’t need to associate with these individuals anymore. The outcome of their actions was the bend in the road for me. I grew up in the rural south which is a very good reason that the other road was not traveled much. Where I grew up, most people did what their parents did, and therefore normally followed the same path and made the same mistakes. I knew that was not what I wanted, which really made the road that was less traveled a lot more appealing to me. I chose to try the road less traveled first, knowing all along that I would not be back to travel that other road. Even as far as I could see down that road, I knew it wasn’t for me. The author