This is what I wrote for my assessment task last term. Be glad I still have it.
Analysis of “The Road Not Taken”
Paths presented to us in our life journey are merely determined by an inseparable accretion of probability and choice, for which the reverberations are indefinite and irreversible. In the third stanza of Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” (TRNT), the paths are described as “both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black”. The un-trodden leaves on the roads are a synecdoche for the lack of traffic. The roads are thus equally traveled and are identical, representing the unknown consequences of decisions in a “yellow wood” which is a metonym for our life journey. These identical forks symbolize our freedom to choose, although, with ignorance of the possible ramifications of those choices. TRNT also reflects the diffidence and strain of remorse present in the mind when making an uncertain and irrevocable choice. Anaphora is used, mainly in the first stanza with the repetition of ‘and’ in, “And sorry…And be… And looked…”. This creates a stream of consciousness effect, where emphasis is placed on the lack of a definitive basis for decision-making, which forces the speaker to continually second-guess himself. This uncertainty therefore shows the speakers trepidation while he is burdened by being unaware of the irreversible repercussions of his decisions.
Word Count: 202