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After reading the poem, I couldn't quite grasp its meaning, but I could feel the rhythm. "Wood, stood, could" and "both, undergrowth" showd me that the poem has a 'ABAAB' rhyme scheme, and this was unlike that of any poem I had read before. In the past, I always thought that poem had to rhyme. Instead of paying attention to the message I was trying to portray, I would just search for the right word that would fit the rhyme scheme I had happended to make up. Iremember giving such a poem to my mom once on her birthday, and getting scolded at because it had no meaning. As I got older and entered middle school, I realized that poems necessarily did not have to rhyme. It was somewhat of a shock to me but nowadays, when I try to write a poem, I almost never keep the rhyme flowing. Trying to find the right word to portray what I am trying to say and keeping the constant rhyme are two points I noticed from the poem and two I want to try on future poetic attempts.
Another one of the points to be enjoyed in this poem is the story and what Frost is really trying to portray. Despite popular beliefs and the first impression one may recieve after reading this poem, this is actually a satirical poem in which Robert Frost is poking fun at his friend Edward Thomas, who frequently took Frost on walks but always complained at the end that they should have taken another path so Thomas could have shown Frost something better. This poem is, on its simplest level, mocking Thomas and his sighs. Th reader is given a hint to this by the highly exaggerated "ages and ages hence." and the fact that he took the "less traveled by," even though there was no difference between the two paths.
I liked both the initial impression I receivedn from this poem and the actual intention of Frost. At first, I thought Frost was figuratively trying to tell us to stick to our principles and choose our own path, which may not be taken the most taken. Due to social pressure, from our parents, friends, and teachers, many people take the course most others have taken just because it is the safest one and others guarentee it will bring happiness. This is the cycle most Koreans are taking now. Almost everyone is trying to enter the most prestegious colleges despite their true interests in order to obtain a degree containing that school's name. DOing this might bring some people fortune but at the end, many will wonder what they are living for and what they truly want. They will regret the "road" they have taken and look back, and realized that they have come too far to look back.
To reflect upon this poem on my own life, I realize that I also am on the point where many roads are diverging into different directions which I don't know leads or ends. These many roads represent the college I may go to. Choosing the school where I wanted to put in early decision was very difficult for me as I knew that this one decision will have a great part in shaping my future life. However, I have now completely decided now and I am devoted to following this road. No turning back now and whatever road I may choose in the future, I am determined to choose the ones I will not regret.
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