![]() ![]() So, metaphorically, this line points out that sometimes there's no way to tell which decision is better. This line shows us that the leaves have freshly fallen – perhaps masking which path was more or less traveled the day before. We also see a contradiction of the earlier claim that one path is less worn than the other. ![]() Lines 11-12: Here, we see the autumn imagery continue, and we find out that it's morning.These lines are not just about nature, but are a metaphor for a decision that is less commonly made. He thinks one path could be better because fewer people have worn it down. Lines 7-8: The speaker is biased in favor of nature.Metaphorically, the undergrowth could represent aspects of the speaker's future that are unclear. Line 5: We find out here that these woods must be pretty thick, because a road can disappear in the undergrowth.The metaphorical significance of this poem taking place in autumn could be that the speaker is making this choice in the fall of his life, when he's beginning to grow old. The speaker tells us the woods are yellow, so we can infer that it's autumn. Line 1: This line gives us the setting of the poem.Nature in this poem sets the scene, and could hold metaphorical meaning as well. ![]() Instead, this poem centers on two roads (more like paths) going through the woods in autumn. We're not talking highways – highways didn't even exist when this poem was written. You might not associate roads with nature, but remember, we're talking about a Robert Frost poem here. And then we get the famous line "and that has made all the difference," which solidifies the figurative level of this poem by saying that taking the road that the speaker took, making the choice that he made, has changed his life. In line 19, one of the roads is being affirmed as less traveled, even though the narrator seemed unsure before. Lines 18-20: The repetition of the first line brings us back to the beginning of the extended metaphor, and then the last two lines conclude the metaphor.This is a metaphor for a decision that changes everything – once you've made it you can never go back. Lines 13-15: The speaker wants to be able to take both roads, but realizes that the nature of these roads is such that he probably will never be able to come back to this place.We don't know why we did it, other than that we thought we'd be just as happy with one choice as the other. But then, all of a sudden, we find ourselves doing something else – dumping the boy or girl, and setting out on a new path. This is probably a metaphor for a sudden decision – when we think about doing one thing, like, say, staying with a boyfriend or girlfriend, for a long time. Line 6: Here, the speaker decides that, even though he's spent a long time looking down one road, he's going to take the other, which seems just as interesting.Just like we can only see a path in the woods for so far, we can only see the consequences of our decisions for a short while into our future. Lines 4-5: This description of the road is a metaphor for the future.Because the fork in the road is a metaphor for choices throughout the poem, it's called an extended metaphor. Wherever the speaker's life has taken him so far, he has come to the point where, to go any farther, he needs to make a choice that takes him down one path and precludes him from taking the other. The road splitting in the woods is a metaphor for a choice. Line 1: This line sets the scene for the literal and metaphorical fork in the road that the speaker faces.And we'll always wonder about the roads that we didn't try. Wrong turn or not, the roads we take can end up making significant changes in our lives. As the speaker of this poem discusses, for every road we take, there's a road we don't take. This poem is about actual and figurative roads: the roads we walk and drive on, and the roads we take through life. Check out our "How to Read a Poem" section for a glossary of terms. Before you travel any further, please know that there may be some thorny academic terminology ahead. Welcome to the land of symbols, imagery, and wordplay. ![]()
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