Friday, August 3, 2012

How are alliteration and metaphors used in "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

The biggest metaphor in the poem is undoubtedly the roads as literal and figurative paths in life. Each path will lead to another, just as each decision we make in our lives leads to another, and eventually we end up far from where we started due to the long chain of events that follows each choice we make. The general mood created by the speaker's famous sigh in line 16 is sentimental and even nostalgic, which adds to the serious mood of the poem. 


The alliteration in the poem contributes to the lyrical quality of the poem. One of the only instances of Frost's alliteration is in line eight when the speaker says the path "wanted wear." However, instances of repeated consonants near each other also contribute to the poem's lyrical quality, like in line one with "yellow wood." 

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