Conscious vs Subconscious Mind
The speaker's conscious mind symbolizes society and the choices people make under its name. It stands for the standard path that people choose to take in order to follow the society’s stereotypes and boundaries which most people abide to. This is shown when he says, "having perhaps the better claim" (Frost), which means that it is a road which "perhaps" is a better choice than any other; therefore, people choose to take it, and when he says, "grassy and wanted wear", which, once again, depicts an inviting picture of that choice or road that most people find appealing.
However, the speaker's subconscious mind represents his own choice and pattern of thinking. It denotes his repressed desires that are surfacing upon choosing not to travel the first road and to keep it for "another day" (Frost). Contrastingly, this road is less crowded with people, and it is the one the speaker decides to navigate through. "I took the one less travelled by" (Frost). The speaker asserts that the choice he has chosen to make was one that only a few people shared with him.
Finally, the speaker appears to be struggling within the final lines of the poem. His inner conflict and dispute over his choice and whether it is right starts to appear, and he begins to think of the outcome. He is burdened and afraid of looking back with agony and regret: "I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence" (Frost). The speaker states that the road he has taken has an impact on his life, but he does not mention whether this impact is fruitful or not, "it has made all the difference" (Frost). Therefore, both the reader and the speaker struggle to understand the results of the choice he has made.
Within the lines of "A Road Not Taken", Frost demonstrates a picture in which the narrator in the poem takes a path unparalleled to that of his society's; he signals the speakers internal unsettling when he does make a choice between the two roads, but he still ends up uncertain and worried. It is a representation of the human beings' psyche as they try to make choices, and how the mechanism of their brains work as they live through that conflict.
Works Cited Robinson, Katherine. "Robert Frost: "The Road Not Taken". Poetry Foundation.
Your review clarifies alot of the poem's ambiguity. I believe that Frost means to deliver a message that our life is a personal journey. Whether you choose to go with the mainstream, following your herd mentality instinct, or go with a unique choice of your own, you will be the only one who experiences the consequences. Also, the last part is definitely my favorite, as some people choose the deserted choices just for the sake of opposing others, Froset asserts, at the end, that taking a different road does not necessarily mean it is the best since he does not explain whether the said difference is to the best or worst.
ReplyDeleteI think he is trying to imply taking risks even when the end of the road is unknown. It is a valuable point of view since we, as humans, don't always know the consequences of the choices we make. Rather, we make them and hope for the best, and this is exactly what the speaker does in this poem.
DeleteFrost succeedes in displaying the conflict that may occur in anybody's mind. I like the way he symbolizes the two choices with two roads in the woods to make the conflict more explicit.
ReplyDeleteYes, symbolism is also high significant in this poem. It makes the speaker's message more interesting and easy to convey to the readers.
DeleteI liked the way the poet provided a solution by having the speaker immediately imagining himself in the future romanticizing his choice.
ReplyDeleteThis is a new aspect to look at the last two lines from. The speaker may be satisfied that, at last, no matter what the result was, he found it out himself instead of dwelling on curiosity or regret regarding the unknown end to the road.
DeleteI found this poem a little confusing at the beginning; however, the poem reminds us that life's big decisions aren't always easy to predict. We make our decision after considering what we might face along the road.
ReplyDeleteIt indeed needs us to put a little bit more thought to understand it, and it is very valuable once you grasp the core. The contrast the poet made is a great portrayal of the human mind.
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