Question

Analysis of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and an excerpt from “Conclusion” of Walden by Henry David Thoreau

These were intended to be 'gut reactions' and initial thoughts so nothing too deep.

Answer 1

This is just for the internets if anyone needs thoughts on these poems/literary pieces. Feel free to comment any criticisms (although this is already submitted).

Answer 2

Robert Frost sets the scene in his poem “The Road Not Taken” by describing two equally “fair” roads. There is no discernible difference between them and the traveler wishes to take both, illustrated by lines 11 and 2: “And both that morning equally lay, And sorry I could not travel both,” creating the theme of the poem. Often in life, you will come across decisions where option A and B are equal or at least similar. An example of this could be two events occurring at the same time and you wish to attend both. Or two people whose company you both enjoy, have chosen times that conflict. Both choices hold a place in your heart, and this leads to an apprehension within—to make a decision. This theme is obscure as many have highlighted line 19: “I took the one less traveled by.” Many have interpreted this as ‘you ought to take the road less traveled,’ as in one of the two roads set before the traveler. Yet as the traveler observes in lines 9-10: “Though as for that the passing there, Had worn them really about the same,” there was no visible difference in the wear of the roads upon first inspection. Thus it would be incorrect to assume that the ‘road less traveled’ would be one of the two roads in front of the traveler. The true meaning of this popularly quoted phrase lies within the verbs tenses, which allude to reflection, culminating in the last line: “And that has made all the difference.” This brings a sense of hope and comfort to the reader, because it establishes that all the difference is made by choosing and learning them for yourself—not feigning away. By choosing one of the options, you have traversed through a strenuous decision that not all may have done. And by doing so, you have gained the benefits of making a decision that you otherwise would not have experienced if you had not. You have taken the road less traveled.

Answer 3

In an excerpt from “Conclusion” of Walden by Henry David Thoreau, a simple message is shown to the reader. He speaks of roads and how it is “remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route.” He sees this as a result of “the surface of the earth” and how it “is soft and impressible by the feet of men.” Interestingly enough, he notes that this is so “with the paths which the mind travels.” This expresses that it is easy to walk physical paths and mental pathways, but they have likely been traversed innumerous amounts of times, as Thoreau calls them the “highways of the world” and how “worn and dusty” they may be. The issue he finds to be “of tradition and conformity” as he lobbies for a liberal mindset for the individual and the world around him. He advocates for the following of one’s dreams and that “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” This is where the liberal mindset establishes itself as being useful. To build castles in the air signifies the mind constituting it’s dreams and acknowledging it’s existence. But they cannot be fulfilled without the the diligence to be imaginative, to create the foundations that can support a castle in the sky. It is not impossible, no matter how daunting a task it may seem. He comforts the reader with the fact that with an enlightened mindset, as to not adhere to that of which has already been grounded in stone, “the laws of the universe will appear less complex” and certain things will no longer be as they are. The limitations are dropped and words are ready to be redefined. Reality at large is moldable, if you have the freedom and mentality to shape it.

Answer 4

The poems and works themselves:

The Road Not Taken (1916)
Robert Frost, 1874-1963
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as 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,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Answer 5

Excerpt from “Conclusion” of Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854)
Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862
I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed
to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more
time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a
particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived
there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side;
and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is
true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it
open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men;
and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then,
must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and
conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before
the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the
moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.
I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances
confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life
which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common
hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary;
new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves
around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his
favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher
order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the
universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor
poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the
air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the
foundations under them.

Answer 6

Well damn omo this is a long analysis omo i:'d say it's awesome.