EXPLORING POETRY: READ, WRITE, SHARE

By Elizakelly Shortsen

ANALYSIS OF ROBERT FROST’S POEM

“THE ROAD NOT TAKEN”

Presentation of Elizakelly Shortsen’s

poem “The Test Not Taken”

and

AnalysisTWO roads diverged

in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not

travel bothAnd be one traveler,

long I stoodAnd looked down

one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

First, you should know that this poem has a figurative and a literal meaning. There are like two layers to the poem.

AnalysisThen 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,

Literally: a guy comes to a fork in the road while he’s walking in the woods. He can’t go both ways, so he looks down both paths. He chooses the one that looks less worn out. He guesses that he will never come back and walk down the first road. And he thinks about telling his grandkids the story of these two roads.

AnalysisAnd both that

morning equally layIn 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.

The figurative meaning of the poem is really cool. Frost is talking about making decisions. No matter how hard you try to figure out what will happen with your choice, you really don’t know what will happen in the future. Frost suggests that you don’t choose the same thing that everyone else has chosen.

AnalysisI shall be telling

this with a sighSomewhere 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.

Frost tells us, through the analogy of a road in the woods compared to a choice in life, that making a choice that isn’t following the crowd, will make a difference in our whole lives. He’s kind of saying “go your own way.”

MY POEM“THE TEST NOT

TAKEN”Modeled after

“The Road Not Taken”

My Poem: “The Test Not Taken”

Two tests appeared to me, laid upon my desk

And gleeful I could not take them both,And complete them equally well, that taskI chose to avoid and with my face a maskOf determination, I took neither, my oath;

I hid them beneath my chair and under a book

The teacher thought I was doneShe chose not to call my name or even lookFor those tests that had been placed in that

nookNot a single question answered, not a one.

And then the bell rang and I left the classroom

The lonely paper hidden safely thereUnder my desk awaiting its eventual doomDestined for the trash I know it was soonFor the custodian would find them in the

chair.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two tests appeared to me and I---I didn’t take either and why…And another year in 8th grade has made all

the difference.

Thank you for watching. Robert Frost’s poem is in the public domain. I included these 3 poetry terms:

Analogy Figurative Literal

I think I have earned a B. Shout outs to: Ginny, Martha, Trigette,

Patricia, Vanessa, Phyllis, and Linda and my BFF Ish. We couldn’t have done it without your support.