Figurative language in poems

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then 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,
And both that morning equally lay
In 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.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere 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.


This poem uses mainly symbolism. For example, the two roads represents choices in our life. Besides that, the less walked road road symbolised the less popular choice and the road which is mostly chosen by travellers represents the more popular choice. The poem also uses one personification - "and wanted wear" This short phrase shows that the road was hardly taken by the travellers and thus "wanted" to be walked on. The poems used a hyperboyle to express a long length of time - "somewhere ages and ages hence".



I like this short poem because it can be very easily related to our every day life. Everyday we have to make different decisions. However sometimes it is very difficult to make a decision when both choices appears to be equally appealing. Despite how much we want to choose both roads, we can only have one choice. Also, this poem expresses very well the dilemma of the author when he had to make a choice between the two almost equally good roads. However he choose the road less travelled in the end. Sometimes, we regret the choice we choose sometimes we are glad we made the correct choice. Finally, I like this poem because although it is short and easy to comprehend, it is very meaningful.