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Extended Metaphors In The Road Not Taken

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“Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever” (Keri Russell). The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, published 1916, depicts the narrator at a fork in the road, having a bit of a difficult time trying to choose which road to take. In the end he takes the one “less traveled by”. The essay will have points mainly about the hidden meaning behind the allegorical poem. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is an allegorical poem, and has extended metaphor throughout the story.
The poem is shown to be allegorical, and is misunderstood by readers all the time, as they don’t understand the actual meaning behind the poem. In actuality, neither of the roads in the poem are less traveled by. The narrator proves this when he says “And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black” (Lines 11-12). Meaning that …show more content…
The narrator is said to be standing at a fork in the road, though the poem doesn’t exactly mean that. It could be taken that way in a simple form that does not have much meaning behind it, but the author meant for the poem to have multiple meanings behind it. The metaphor is comparing two roads in a forest with life decisions. As a result, he is remorseful that he is unable to choose both decisions and experience the result of both, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both” (1-2). Giving the poem a pause adds a more dramatic effect.
The poem uses caesura at least once, more so at the end. It gave the poem a more dramatic effect, for it imitated a pause in the poem. It lets the reader have anticipation in a way, as they are waiting for the final decision on what path he will choose. The way the author used the caesura at the end of a line made the reader have to jump to the next line to find out what happened, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by”

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