theroadnottaken英⽂诗歌读后感
“The road not taken” is a poem by Rob ert Frost, published in 1916 in the collection Mountain Interval, it is the first poem in the volume and is printed in italics. The title is often mistakenly g iven as “The Road Less Traveled”, from the last cond line:“I took the one less traveled by”. At the first, I will translate the poem in my opinion.
Following a path, I rambled in a yellow wood. Without my noticing it, I came to a fork of the road. As a appreciator of the beautiful scenery along the way. I am s orry about that I couldn’t take the both roads. Standing there for a long time, I lected one and looked far into the distance. The roads twist and turn, until it finally disappeared in the deep inside the wood. Then I turned to e the other one. Becau both of them are strange for me, maybe the cond one is the better lection. I saw the fallen leaves covering the road. Perhaps it has the better claim and has the more expectations. In the morning, the sunlight shined the roads fairly. No pasr had arrived here and leaves haven’t been trodden. Both of them kept the golden coloring. I got ready to start off. If I can do it, I will come back to visit the first one. But I don’t know where I will be leaded to. I doubled if I can come back. In somewhere on my way, I shall be remaining the scene sometime with a long sigh: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, I cho the one which was more unfrequented. So my life shows different.
This poem describes a situation where the writer came to a fork in a yellow wood and faced two roads to choo. At that moment he wished to travel both but he couldn’t. Facing this situation, he “took the one less traveled by” and left the first one for future Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had walked many times in the woods near London. Frost has said that while walking they would come to different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always felt wondering what they might have misd by not taking the other path.
The yellow color of the wood is reprentative of the light, hope, and promi that speaker is standing before. His future is bright and stretches before him. The poem is t in the wood becau we get an image of a quiet, derted place where the speaker is left alone to decide. There are no signs or people to stop and ask foe directions. Similarly, there are no signs in life designed to help people choo their paths. Everyone
is a traveler in life. We must make decisions that will greatly impact our destination. Reprents a new beginning and the endless possibilities the day ahead has to offer. Bright future that is spread out before us when we made choice; We must take resposibl ity to the choices we made in the eary years.
The poem is t in wood on the morning, but it really can be anywhere and any time.
At the end of the poem is a imagination about future: The writer walked along the other road of the two, as proper and reasonable as the choice of the first, perhaps more attractive and charming, which derves more attention, becau it is covered with grass and not quite worn, for few travelers had trodden it, so he can’t come back to his origin to restart a new journey. The endless journey was writing for him. In my opinion, the sigh reflects helpless and regret as appreciator, becau of the miss of the other road’s beautiful scenery. But according a analysis which came from internet, The word “sigh” is a tricky word. Becau the sigh can be regarded as a relief or a regret. If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker feels glad with the road he took. If it is the regret sigh, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret. Hence, sigh is ambiguous here for the speaker is not showing whether his choice is right or wrong.
The “road” symbolized “different dir ections of life”. He lected the quieter one. This poem is endowed with abundant symbolic meanings. In the speaker’s mind, the two roads not only refer to the real roads he has to take while walking in the yellow wood, more significantly, it means two different ways of life when one hesitates before the life’s crossroad. Different choices will lead to different futures. He didn’t choo a high-income job like everyone el, but he became a writer.
This poem consists of four stanzas of five lines. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB. The rhymes are strict
and masculine, with notable exception of the last line. There are four stresd syllables each line, varying on iambic tetrameter ba. It ems to be about the poet, walking in the woods in au
tumn, choosing which road he should follow on his walk, sin ce they are both pretty.
In reality, this is a meditative poem symbolically writte n. It concerns the important decisions which one must take
in the cour of life, when one must give up one desirable thing in order to posss another.
Life is full of forked roads or crossroads, choices are choices lead to different results,
so choices are important.
After reading, I realized that once the decision is made, there will be no way to return to the original choice to experience the other road. So the poet thought---yet knowing how way on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. The made choice is irrevocable, so man must be careful and rational before making decisions. At the same time, he must be courageous enough
to face the result of his choice, whether it is good or not.
