What type of poem is "Road Not Taken"?

Question

The poem is written in 1st person narrative. Is that suggests that this is a narrative poem? The rhyme scheme is abaab, cdccd, etc... and has a 4 stanzas of five line each. Does that say anything about the form of this poem? I am confused pls help me. Thank you.

Here's the poem

The Road Not Taken – 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.

Answer 1

I would say it's more of a lyric poem, since it reflects the meditation of a single speaker. It could also be construed as an allegory, since the image of the forking path in the woods can represent the choices that human beings must live with every day in life. Making one choice is a commitment to one specific destiny over another.

As to the stanza form, perhaps he wanted to create a rhyme scheme with greater complexity in abaab than the more straightforward binary rhymes of abab or abba.

Thematically, this could be significant since, after all, the poem is about making difficult decisions and the potential for regret that comes from only being able to choose one path.

The complex rhyme scheme could reflect that same waffling in commitment to one rhyme pattern over another that the speaker shows in choosing one path over another.

By making a lopsided rhyme scheme, it creates a sense of instability that is inherent in the speaker's own decision making process.

To push it further, ALL paths are really "less traveled by" from your perspective until you choose a certain path. But once you choose, that path becomes the common one to your own experience. But what seems equal at first (just as he says in the line, "passing there / Had worn them [the two paths] really about the SAME") may not seem as such looking back.

After all, whatever choice the speaker contemplates making, he states, "I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence...." CHOICES may be a 50/50 proposition, but the RESULTS often are not, especially with the gift or curse of hindsight.

The rhymes seem to reflect the paradoxical conceit of things appearing equal but also being ultimately imbalanced, all because of human choice and perception.

Answer 2

Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken is a Poem About Regret.
It is not strictly a narrative poem.
The message is: Choices Impact Life

In the poem, Robert Frost uses metaphor, verb tenses, title, and diction to show that the choices a person makes will impact the rest of his or her life.

A person’s life always consists of millions of decisions. One who decides to go to college will have a different life from the one who choose not to go to college; one who makes the choice of studying hard at school will get a different results compared with the one who chooses partying as priority. One who decides to use illegal drugs will have a different life from the one who chooses to get away from the illegal drugs. Difference decisions make one’s life different from another.

Answer 3

1. Never begin a trip with blue orbs; makes for a crotchety ride. 2. You went to the wrong Bell for a taco. 3. Love shack is a song, not a place. 4. Stick to the pink pills. 5. Tequila makes my clothes fall off. 6. Beavers eat wood. 7. Tide gets stains out. You are sumpin'!