Poem Analysis: "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

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Choices and Consequences
Novelists and poets have often used their works to detail on various societal issues and to provide the solutions. Some of these issues include racism, gun violence in America and corruption among others. The poet Robert Frost in his poem The Road Not Taken succeeded to highlight on the issue of choices and decision making that plague human beings each day. These choices have a lasting effect and as a result it’s important that individuals take their time to critically analyze the options in front of them and select the most convenient and advantageous one. The essay paper therefore seeks to examine the major theme of human choices as vividly showcased in the poem.
Choices have consequences and will mostly define the success or failure of an individual’s life. Choices are an inevitable part of people’s lives as at some point between birth and death they are faced with dilemmas where they have to select one option and neglect another in order to move forward. The two options are often very similar therefore complicating the selection process. In the poem Robert Frost uses the title metaphorically to relate to an individual’s journey of life. All people are born equal but as they grow up everyone is forced to take up their path that would not only make them happy but would also ensure a successful life. These choices differ from one individual to another depending on the situational upbringing and how fast one matures and is able to make responsible decisions. It is believed that poor people because of the hardships they face each day are faced to make many choices for their survival. For instance, they are made to choose either to go look for work and get some money to provide for their basic needs or get money easily by stealing from the rich in the society. The latter can be detrimental as they could get arrested or lose their lives in the process.
Robert shares on his journey in the woods where he encounters a fork on his path and is forced to make a choice on the road to take. The fork in that case represents a puzzle that he has to solve before moving forward. He has no idea of the dangers or eventualities that lay ahead on either of the two roads and it’s also impossible for him to use both paths simultaneously. Robert notes “Two roads diverged in a yellow mood and sorry I could not travel both” (Frost n.p). The two paths are fundamentally identically which only complicated the selection process. Human nature however dictates a lot of caution and Robert notes that he managed to look down as far as he could to the bo...