The central decision of the poem is which path the narrator should take. This conflict between the rigid theoretical structure, and the free-flowing poetry, lies at the heart of Frost and his portrayal of decisions. For example, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, with “wood” being unattached. However, the actual scansion departs from this tetrameter by regularly introducing extra syllables which scan awkwardly.
The poem is structurally rigid, with all four stanzas following the same ABAAB structure in iambic tetrameter (four iambs per line). This in turn emphasises the central thesis of the poem, that often the effects that decisions have upon people are auto-suggestive.The form and structure of the poem contributes greatly to Frost’s presentation of decisions. This accentuates the irony of the poem that the road he takes does not matter. However, Frost seems to be intimating here that he will not return to his condition before the decision the decision will have changed him. On a superficial reading this simply states that he will not return to this spatial point again. In the previous stanza, the narrator writes that he “doubted whether he would ever come back”. Here, the narrator potentially fabricates the past in order to find contentment – the caesura and repetition of “…and I – I took…” implies hesitation and conflict. Frost uses this episode to emphasise how decisions are often immaterial, compared to how they are eventually narrated. This is an example of irony in the end, no matter which road the narrator took, the “road less travelled” will make all the difference. Frost seems to hint that the narrator says that he “took the road less travelled” in order to make himself appear better. The choice is immaterial, in fact the narrator is absolute monarch over his past. It is not the choice, then, which is the centerpoint of the poem it is the narrator’s relation of his choice. The poet writes that “I shall be telling this with a sigh”, with “this” signifying his choice. All we see is an ambiguous “snapshot” of life, and Frost implies that the decision made in this “snapshot” is inflated beyond proportion in the mind of the narrator.As well as the decisions themselves, Frost’s presentation of their results are worthy of note. We know nothing beyond the present neither the background nor the future of the narrator. By keeping this ambiguity throughout the poem, and not anchoring the narrator’s actions to anything definite, one realises that the fate of the narrator is dictated by his blind actions. In fact, he says of the path that “it bent into the undergrowth” – that is to say, his decision is not related to any knowledge of the outcome, which remains beyond his ken.
the decisions), the destinations to which they lead are unspecified. Whilst detail is lavished upon the roads (viz. He emphasises the similarity of the two roads – “the other, just as fair” – in order to show that decisions of all kinds are often less important than portrayed. Frost knows this this sense of ambiguity is what he desires. Hence we end the poem no more informed than we began it, as to which road the narrator took. The roads may lead in different directions, but “both that morning equally lay”. Frost intentionally fails to clarify which path he has taken, and in fact ends the poem with a contradiction he took the “road less taken”, despite the fact that “the passing there had worn them about the same.” This leads the reader to realise that the narrator of the poem is unreliable. Frost emphasises this through his use of dramatic techniques (such as manipulation of prosody, or subtle metaphors) within an overarching structure of ambiguity.The use of ambiguity in fact forms a central part of this poem. His key thesis is that the result of decisions are often immaterial, yet the process of decision-making defines a person. The poem revolves around the concept of decisions and internal conflict, and these tropes are presented by Frost in a variety of ways. “The Road Not Taken” is often considered Robert Frost’s most popular work.
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