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Example research essay topic: Road Less Traveled One Less Traveled - 906 words

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The Real Road Not Taken If a person claims that Robert Frost s poem The Road Not Taken is a tremendous inspiration to them, they probably do not understand the poem as well as they think they do. The Road Not Taken could be one of the most misunderstood poems ever written. The popular interpretation glorifies the speaker s decision to choose one path in a forest over another path, and his decision being to travel the one less traveled. This choice is usually considered a bold move symbolic of the speaker making a cautious decision in his life to break from the crowd and try something different.

However, a careful reading of the poem reveals problems with the common analysis that can be solved through analysis of the character of the speaker and the aspects of Frost s word choices. The title is the first part of the poem that signals the popular analysis is incorrect. Frost s choice to title the poem The Road Not Taken gives the reader a negative feeling because the road described is the one not taken as opposed to the one the speaker actually did take. The opening line of the poem states two roads diverged in a yellow wood. Why did the speaker describe the woods as yellow? Yellow in this sense might signify the cowardice he faces and that the speaker is afraid of the woods, obstacles, and circumstances surrounding the two roads.

Continuing with the first stanza, the narrator states that he looked down one as far as I could. He only looks down one of the roads before he decides that that path is not the right choice for him, chooses the other, and continues his journey. The speaker does not ponder which road to take for long, disproving the popular interpretation that the speaker makes a difficult decision between two options before finally choosing the less traveled path. The second and third stanzas also offer evidence contradictory to the poem s usual explanation. The speaker describes the path he actually takes as being just as fair / And having perhaps the better claim, / Because it was grassy and wanted wear; / Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same. This description could mean that the two paths and choices he faces are more similar than normally depicted, and the decision is not a very difficult one.

After choosing which road to take, the speaker comments that he keeps the first for another day, meaning he can always undo his choice. Immediately after he admits that Yet knowing how way leads to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back. Rather than being cautious and keeping all his options open in case he regrets his decision, he confesses that he will probably continue down the road he is on, no matter where it may lead. The final stanza completes the analysis that the speaker is not as brave and independent as normally described. The last stanza begins I shall be telling this with a sigh / Ages and ages hence. This indicates that the speaker anticipates he will tell his story in the future.

Why would he already predict sharing the story later in life? The speaker could see the possibility of a great story to tell about the day he took the so-called road less traveled and appear to be a confident traveler in the road of life. Also, the speaker says he will tell the story with a sigh. The reader wonders why he looks back with a sigh. In this case, the sigh could be to look wiser in front of his audience he envisions being present when he retells his story. It might be his way of adding a dramatic pause for a chance to fondly remember his choice.

A small detail that disproves the popular interpretation occurs in the retelling at the end of the poem. The traveler does not describe the woods as yellow as he had previously done; he simply states that two roads diverged in a wood. Leaving yellow out of the retelling signifies that he is trying to repeat the story to appear more courageous than he was when he made the decision between the two roads. The last two lines read I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference. Remembering the discrepancy in the middle two stanzas when the speaker first says one path is more worn than the other, then contradicts himself calling the two roads equal, the reader concludes that the traveler is a self-indulged liar who would have told the same story even if he had taken the other road. All these elements work together to contradict the popular theory that Frost s poem about a lone traveler is a poem about being inspired, being daring, and having courage.

Frost believed that a part of human nature is to remember events more favorably than actually occur. This poem reflects Frost s beliefs, but loses the true meaning of The Road Less Traveled to the romantic view that the traveler had to choose between a popular route or discover his own by choosing to break from the normal path. Should a reader break from the usual analysis and deeply analyze the poem, the reader would find a more thoughtful and true to life theme about humanity.


Free research essays on topics related to: roads diverged, poem the road, one less traveled, frost poem, road less traveled

Research essay sample on Road Less Traveled One Less Traveled

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