Textual Analysis Essay – Paragraph #1

Marlon Wayans once said, “Success is not a destination, but the road that you’re on. Being successful means that you’re working hard and walking your walk every day. You can only live your dreams by working hard towards it. That’s living your dreams.” This quote means being successful is working hard to achieve your goals. The poem, “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost, states that in life we come upon many decisions, and there are points where we have to let fate take the lead. “The Road Not Taken” uses two paths as a symbol of a life decision. In this poem we are introduced to the traveler and all his life decisions. This poem is and expression of life, because in life is about making choices, where it can be hard to find your way out of something, but there are many possible ways you can do it.

“Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim” (line 6&7) are verses where we can clearly see that deciding between two choices is a decision into which he is putting a lot of thought. Throughout the poem, we learn that there are two paths to take, but the traveler, who we suppose is Robert Frost, is uncertain of which one to take.  We learn that this is really a life decision, and not just a choice between two paths. In the line, “I shall be telling this with a sigh,”(16), Robert Frost shows a sign of regret, meaning he made the wrong decision. Not all decisions have to be clearly thought out or over-thought. In our lives, sometimes we make some wrong decisions, too. Depending on time, we can’t always really lookup that why we made mistake. Furthermore, there are important decisions that go into making a big change.

The next subtopic is about a hard way to find your way out of something. In the poem, Frost should decide which way to continue traveling. In the poem “I took the one less traveled by” (15) this line in the poem talks about Frost of which path is the best one to take. One way he thinks that it has been traveled many times before and it is safer, easier route to continue down but Frost ended up selecting the path that was less traveled by, or the road that did not look convenient, to continue his journey. In the poem “had worn them really about the same” (line 10) the two roads by stating that both roads had not been traveled lately. Also, “Because it was grassy and wanted wear ;”( line 8) illustrates that one road is no longer being used. Lastly, I will explain about the possible ways of making choices.

Along with choices are the many possible ways of making choices. Having many possible ways of making choices. Possible ways of making choices is difficult for people because they don’t know which way to go or how to choose. In the poem, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (line1). People need to make a choice and walk down one of these roads, leaving the other one behind. Also, in the poem, “Oh, I kept the first for another day!,” (Line 13) the speaker is no longer sure about his choice.

Overall, Life is full of choices, some predetermined, some decided on the spot. The road is really a metaphor explaining decisions that we make. Sometimes there are monumental choices that will affect the rest of someone’s life, whether they know it or not. The poem, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is about one of those special moments where one choice will change the course of one person’s life. Others believes that depending on the road a person chooses, their life will turn out for better off for worse. In this poem in which we learn that sometimes we have to let fate take the lead. Life is a combination of decisions and fate. According to the author, the two paths symbolize the life of the traveler and all his life decisions. Every decision can really affect your life. My ideal world is deciding an option to take and it connects to my poem about the road that is diverged.