A person’s life always consists of millions of decisions. One who decides to go to college will have a different life from the one who choose not to go to college; one who makes the choice of studying hard at school will get a different results compared with the one who chooses partying as priority. One who decides to use illegal drugs will have a different life from the one who chooses to get away from the illegal drugs. Difference decisions make one’s life different from another. In the poem “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost uses metaphor, verb tenses, title, and diction to show that the choices a person makes will impact the rest of his or her life.
Frost first uses metaphor to show that the speaker’s choice impact his life. Metaphor is “an imaginative comparison between two literally unlike things” (Literary vocabulary poetry IV). At the very beginning of the poem, Frost uses metaphor in the line “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (1). This line compares a decision to two diverging roads. To travelers, two diverging roads obviously mean this is the time to make a decision, choose one or another. Travelers who face two diverging roads are just like the people in their lives who face a fork in the road, which also means a decision making time. Does the decision make a difference to the speaker in the poem? Yes. At the very end of the poem, the speaker says “and that has made all the different” (20). This quote tells us that the road the speaker chose, which also means the decision the speaker made, has made differences in his life, showing that his choice impact his life.
Frost also uses verb tenses to prove that people’s choice will impact their lives. He uses past tense the whole poem but the in “I shall be telling this with a sigh” (16), which is future tense. The transition from past tense to future tense means that the speaker will look back to the decision he made. There are two possibilities for looking back at something: you are proud of something, or you are regretful of something. The meaningful word-“sigh” in this quote suggests the regret of the speaker. So the future tense in this poem shows that the speaker will eventually look back to the decision he made because of the regret. So, he knows that his decision will impact his life in the future.
Frost also uses the title to show that people’s choice will impact their lives. The title of this poem is “The Road Not Taken.” This title directly shows that the speaker is regretful of his decision of not taking the other road. The speaker looks back at the scene that he was making the choice in front of the diverged roads and wondered about the road not taken, showing that he would have taken the one he has not taken if he could have chosen again. This action shows that he is regretful of the choice he made before. If he has the chance to make the decision again he will make a different one. The regret for not taking the other road shows that the decision speaker made impacts his life.
Frost last uses diction to show that people’s choice will impact their lives. Diction is “the poet’s choice of words to create meaning based on the denotation and connotation of any given word” (Literary vocabulary poetry III). Frost first uses “sorry” in the sentence “and sorry I could not travel both” (2). Sorry has a strong meaning of regret, showing that speaker was regretful before he even made the choice of which road he should take because of the fact that he can only choose one or the other. Frost second uses “sigh” in the sentence “I shall be telling this with a sigh” (16). Sigh is a facial expression of regret, sadness, or relief. In this poem it means the expression of regret. The speaker will eventually look back at his decision he made long time ago with a facial expression of regret, suggesting that the choice he made will impact his life, bringing him regret. Frost last uses “difference” in the sentence “and that has made all the difference” (20). Difference has a meaning of changing. The choice speaker made has changed his life, showing that speaker’s decision impacts his life.
From metaphor, verb tenses, title and diction we can see that the choice that the traveler made in front of the two diverging roads impacts the rest of his journey. Same as the speaker, people are just like that traveler, traveling on the journey of life. The journey consists of million roads. Different choices on different roads lead to different destination and impact the rest of journey. That is why we say that people’s choice impact the rest of their lives.
Works Cited
Literary vocabulary poetry. Hand Out. April 6 2005.
Robert Frost. “The Road Not Taken”. Hand Out. April 6 2005.
