Saturday, January 25, 2014

In "The Road Not Taken," what is the tone or attitude?

The tone of attitude of the poem changes as the traveller considers his choice of roads. The first attitude is reveals the speaker to be somewhat indecisive. He comes across a fork in the road and wishes to “travel both” but then decides that would be impractical. So, he selects “the one less traveled by...  '" This suggests a feeling of independence and adventure. However, he quickly questions his own description. “Though as for that the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same.” He still decides to take the other route on another day. Then he says he will will be “telling this with a sigh,” which seems to imply a tone of regret. But by the end of the poem, the tone turns to a feeling of inevitability and acceptance. He writes:



Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—


I took the one less traveled by,


And that has made all the difference.




The speaker has finally reconciled the fact that he made a choice and that choice was important and simply leaves it at that. Many people think that Frost was explaining his choice to become a poet in this poem. However,several times, Frost himself said the poem was about his friend, fellow poet Edward Thomas who was known for his indecisiveness and habit of "habit of dwelling on the irrevocability of


decisions". If so, then Thomas' habit has been immortalized by Frost and we will be telling of his experience “with a sigh/ Somewhere ages and ages hence” .

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