Stimulus text on "The Road not Taken" by Robert Frost. (speech)

Essay by moil60High School, 12th gradeB+, February 2007

download word file, 2 pages 3.0 1 reviews

Downloaded 57 times

My second text is also a poem, written in the first person and expressing personal experience. "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost tells us of how he takes a walk in the woods and stands alone at a point where two separate roads go off in two different directions. It uses the metaphor of the road as a symbol of life, and the 'roads diverged' symbolise an important decision. This represents choices in life, physical journeys help broaden our knowledge. We learn from our experiences of the choices we make, and at times it can be difficult to decide what decision to make. The protagonist admits to himself "as for that, the passing there / had worn them really about the same', and 'both that morning equally lay'. So the two roads are really about the same, but he chooses one and hopes that someday he will return to the other, knowing all along that this is unlikely.

This also shows journeys offer challenge of being different, a path of life where there are new, important things to do.

In the final stanza, the persona predicts that in the future he will speak of this decision that he made as having taken "the one less travelled by" and how it has had a huge impact on his life, "that has made all the difference". Whether it is a positive or negative difference any choice makes a difference.

It is clear that there are connections between these two texts. Physical journeys can be unpredictable, may have obstacles and challenges for people who undertake them and can help broaden the knowledge of others. In "Crossing the Red Sea" this can be seen through the persona undertaking his journey from his homeland to Australia. His journey is unpredictable and...