The Road Not Taken
A journey can be defined as a physical, imaginative or inner experience that leads to the accomplishment of intended goals hence resulting in the growth and maturity of an individual.
Within the context of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken the physical journey taken by the persona is used as a metaphor for the inner journey he is actually experiencing by choosing between two different paths. Thus the road is an extended metaphor as it is used throughout the poem to symbolise the persona's inner journey and emotional/spiritual experience.
Frost's use of first person when composing the piece implies personal decision when it comes to the choices made in the poem. 'I doubted if I should ever come back', this use of first person language creates empathy between the persona and the audience and allows the audience to experience the persona's inner journey, and to discover the results of the persona's journey also.
Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken", 1874 - 1963
Robert Frost, American poet
English: The stone covering Robert Frost's family ...'Grass and wanted wear' is an example of a connotation created by Frost within the piece. The use of this connotation implies that one of the roads is less taken than the other one and is probably the more difficult and arduous journey to take.
These techniques can effectively convey the concept of journey within a text. Within Frost's The Road Not Taken, these techniques combine to successfully communicate it's notions of journey and growth.