Appreciation of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost《未选择的路》赏析

发布时间：2018-01-06 15:55:47 来源：文档文库

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Appreciation of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Abstract:

The Rod Not Taken is one of the best known poems by Robert Frost, simple and beautiful in form and its meaning is deep. There are many different opinions on the theme of The Road Not Taken. Most of them think that people should not follow in other’s footsteps and should be brave in research, choose the road less travelled. This paper tries to analyses the form and the meaning of The Rod Not Taken.

Key words: form; meaning; poem

《未选择的路》赏析

摘要：

《未选择的路》是一首最有名的诗之一，由罗伯特•弗罗斯特写的。它的形式简单，美好而且意义深远。对于这首诗人们有不同的看法，大多数人认为这首诗告诉我们不要随波逐流，要勇于探索，选择人走得少的道路。本文将从诗的形式和意义来分析《未选择的路》。

关键词：形式；意义; 诗

Appreciation of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

1. Introduction

1.1 The Information about the Poet, Robert Frost

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was born in San Francisco, California, where he spent his childhood. In 1885, after his father died of tuberculosis, the Frosts moved to Massachusetts. There, Robert graduated from high school sharing top honors with a student he would later marry Elinor White. In his spare time, he wrote poetry. Disappointed with the scant attention his poems received, he moved with his wife to Great Britain to present his work to readers there. Publishers liked his work and printed his first book of poems, A Boy’s Will, in 1913, and a second poetry collection, North of Boston, in 1914. The latter book was published in the United States in 1915.

Having established his reputation, Frost returned to the United States in 1915 and bought a small farm in Franconia, N.H. To supplement his income from the farm and his poetry, he taught at universities. Between 1916 and 1923, he published two more books of poetry—the second one, New Hampshire, winning the 1923 Pulitzer Prize. He went on to win three more Pulitzer Prizes and was invited to recite his poem “The Gift Outright” at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in January 1961. Frost died in Boston two years later. One may regard him as among the greatest poets of his generation

Robert Lee Frost was a famous American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. He does different jobs in rural areas in New England in the early twentieth century, and writes poems by using his personal life experiences. His poems examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

1.2 The Background of this Poem

Robert Frost was born in a teacher family, spent his childhood in the western United States. After graduating from high school, he graduated from Harvard University after two years of study. He worked as a weaver, teachers and farm. His life journey is not smooth at all. He has moved to different places and has had many different jobs. Meanwhile he began to write poetry. But his poems didn’t bring to the attention of the American.

In 1912, Frost was 38 years old. This year he made an important choice: give up his teaching in a normal school, so he had to give up the flat and stable life. He chose the poetry. He said to himself: "though I’m poor, I would keep writing."

The Rod Not Taken is one of the best known poems by Robert Frost. It was published in 1915, in the collection Mountain Interval. He put his thoughts and feelings into the poem. His poetic style is simple and meaningful. This poem is a fine example, its language is Concise fluent and simple, and it is easy to understand.

2. Analysis of the Poem

2.1 Form

The form of this poem is: four stanzas of five lines each; all lines are capitalized, flush left, and of approximately the same length. The rhyming scheme is so rhythmical and familiar to readers that it sounds like music when the poem is read.

The poem has 4 stanzas. They can be divided into two layers. The 1-3 stanzas are the first layer. In a yellow wood, I’m facing two roads. After thinking deeply, I decided to choose the road less travel. In this layer, the poet describes the selection is not a hasty decision. He goes through a complex psychological process. On the road of life, he arrives at a point where he must decide which of two equally appealing (or equally intimidating) choices is the better one. He examines one choice as best he can, but the future prevents him from seeing where it leads. He selects the road that appears at first glance to be less worn and therefore less traveled. It suggests that he has an independent spirit and does not wish to follow the crowd. After a moment, he concludes that both roads are about equally worn. Leaves cover both roads equally. No one on this morning has yet taken either road, for the leaves lie undisturbed. The speaker remains committed to his decision to take the road he had previously selected, saying that he will save the other road for another day. He observes, however, that he probably will never pass this way again and thus will never have an opportunity to take the other road.

The stanza 4 is the second layer. It is the author's feelings many years later. He wants to telling others about the choice he made. While doing so, he will sigh either with relief that he made the right choice or with regret that he made the wrong choice.

Whether right or wrong, the choice will have had a significant impact on his life. This tells us that in everyone’s life, he or she may face a lot of options, we must make decision, and we must consider a lot. In some degree nobody can judge which one is the right and which is the wrong one. The problem is that, once we make a choice, and take a road, we cannot come back. When we recall our choice after many years, we will know that everything began to change the moment we took the road. Every choice will have an impact on life; Choose a different road, the fate would be different.

2.2 Meaning

The Road Not Taken centers on the concept of choice. The road that the speaker is walking on is splitting in two directions, and he has to decide which way to go. This road is not just in the woods, but also represents a decision in his life. Something in his life is changing, forcing him to make a choice. Yet he has a really hard time deciding – one moment, he thinks one way is better, the next, both paths are about the same. Whether or not he has a reason why the choice he makes is better, he has to make it. And that choice changes his life.

Although the poet wrote the road he chose, but the focus is the road which he didn’t select. The subject also shows this. So choice is very important. But why the poet focus on the road he didn’t choose? In fact, not choose is just a kind of choice. In the life, people usually didn’t satisfy their choices. So it made people to miss the road they didn’t choose. So in this poem, the poet remained the road that not be chose in his mind. This is a true meaning of life.