I need a bit of help with this poem. I need to know what the rhyme scheme is. I know it is ABAAB for each stanza. I'm not quite sure what this rhyme scheme is called. Please Help. I know it's not a ballad, or a concrete poem. Can you help? Also what do you think the point is he is trying to make? Thanks

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

There is not a special name for the rhyme scheme. A discussion of the poem can be found here:

[www.cs.rice.edu]


Les

There is a name for the rhyme scheme used in this poem. The rhyme scheme is abaab, cdccd, efeef,ghggh. I'm not sure what this is called. For example, in the poem " One Perfect Rose" The rhyme scheme is called a Quadre= meaning the 1st and the third lines rhyme, and the 2nd and 4th line rhymes in each stanza. The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, cd, cd, because each word at the end of the sentence rhymes, ex: in the first stanza, met and wet, chose and rose, the second stanza, floweret and amulet, enclose and rose, and so forth and so on. If anyone know what the rhyme scheme is called in The Road Not Taken, please let me know. Thank you Les for all your help. The link helped me understand the poem a little more.

PLEASE HELP! NEED MORE INFORMATION.

There is a name for the rhyme scheme used in this poem. The rhyme scheme is abaab, cdccd, efeef,ghggh. I'm not sure what this is called. For example, in the poem " One Perfect Rose" The rhyme scheme is called a Quadre= meaning the 1st and the third lines rhyme, and the 2nd and 4th line rhymes in each stanza. The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, cd, cd, because each word at the end of the sentence rhymes, ex: in the first stanza, met and wet, chose and rose, the second stanza, floweret and amulet, enclose and rose, and so forth and so on. If anyone know what the rhyme scheme is called in The Road Not Taken, please let me know. Thank you Les for all your help. The link helped me understand the poem a little more.

>One Perfect Rose ...
>The rhyme scheme is called a Quadre ...

Cite, please.

Personally, I have never come across a name for a rhyme scheme, except for the couplet. Most citations just show 'Rhyme scheme is ______'.

pam

I can check the Princeton, but it is some 1900 miles away from me right now. < adds to bottom of 'to do' list >

Have been totally unable to find a name for this rhyme scheme; although various types of sonnet etc are distinguished by their rhyme pattern, there don't appear to be any names for rhyme schemes (except, as Pam points out, the couplet.) 4 lines of whatever meter or rhyme scheme are called a quatrain - I can't find any reference to a quadre.

Let us all know when you find out.

Hey, I think I may have found it - thanks to a colleague who knows infinitely more than I do - anyone know about Quintillas - eg do they definitely have to have 8 syllables, and do you think Frost just about qualifies? The rhyme scheme would certainly fit.

The poem is a quintain, which is a poem or stanza of five lines. The term Quadre is not included in the New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Doesn't mean that it doesn't exist but given the comprehensive nature of the Princeton, I doubt it.

Similarly, there is no entry for the word quadre in the Oxford English Dictionary - maybe it is a French term. Even so, Quintilla is included in the Princeton which is a Spanish form. Whether Frost wrote this as an English version of a Quintilla isn't clear, although in my syllable count it does not seem uniformly eight syllables and while the odd additional syllable probably wouldn't matter, I feel sure that had he been deliberately trying to make it a quintilla, a poet of Frost's genius would have been stricter.

It also seems to me that, given the popularity of this poem, if there was any form of consensus as to what it was, that would be documented and, despite looking quite extensively, I haven't been able to find it tagged as a quintilla.

Well, that one *is*in the Princeton, although the other one wasn't:


"A Spanish stanza form formerly considered a type of redondilla ... It is a 5-line octosyllabic strophe having two rhymes in consonance and having the following restrictions: there may not be more than two rhymes or two consecutive rhymes or two consequtive rhymes and the strophe may not end with a couplet. The five possible rhyme combinations are therefore: ababa, abbab, abaab, aabab, aabba. ... "


So, within that narrow definition, it seems to fit the abaab tetrameter requirement, but it sounds like it needs 5 stanzas, with only two rhymes.

Looking up the definition for 'strophe', we get:


1. a. The first of a pair of stanzas of alternating form on which the structure of a given poem is based. b. A stanza containing irregular lines.

2. The first division of the triad constituting a section of a Pindaric ode.

3. a. The first movement of the chorus in classical Greek drama while turning from one side of the orchestra to the other. b. The part of a choral ode sung while this movement is executed.


So, if a strophe can be a stanza, bingo! If the strophe has to be an irregular stanza, it fails that test, as all lines are regular. What are two rhymes in consonance? Beats the hell outta me.

I'd have to go with Les: iambic tetrameter, rhyming abaab cdccd ... etc. is about the only 'form' label we can put on it.

Oops, I did not see Chesil's before sending mine up. Strangely, quintain does not appear in my copy of the Princeton. Looking it up online, I see this weird entry:


English Quintain

This is much more popular form of Quintet having no set measure or foot and has a rhyming scheme of a. b. a. b. b.

Fields we have planted
have ripened slowly to golden husk.
soon they will be harvested.
the air rich with wheaten musk
the fields once more return to dust.

The Biki



If the author thinks that rhymes ababb, he should scan it again!

My turn to be separated by 2,500 miles from my Princeton. The entry did include rhyme scheme notes and I'll post them when I get back next week.

You don't think dust and musk a good rhyme, Hugh? :)

according to brown university, a quintet is A five-line stanza in any meter, rhymed or unrhymed. One version, known as the "English quintet", rhymes ABABB; Katherine Phillips uses this stanza form in her poem Friendship's Mystery, from which the following example is taken:
Come, my Lucasia, since we see
That Miracles Mens faith do move,
By wonders and by prodigy
To the dull angry world let's prove
There's a Religion in our Love.

Much obliged. Here is another:

[eir.library.utoronto.ca]

How does the guy make his decision. How does he choose which road to take? We know what road he chooses by why? Thanks in advance.

"Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;"

Apparently, he chooses it because it's 'less traveled by.'

pam

The inference in his taking the "less traveled" road is that he would experience in life what few other people could.


Les

However, how did you know it was less traveled by if

"Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay"

They were both exactly the same. The last stanza is in the future tense, which has nothing to do with the choice he has right now. He makes a choice, but why? Why does he choose the one he does? They were both the same. How do you distinguish between taking one road or the other if they were "Worn really about the same"? Frost reitterates three times that the roads were the same.

>However, how did you know it was less traveled by ...

Uh, because RLF says it was?


I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Okay. So what is the sigh there for. And, how did RLf know that the road was less traveled by.

>Because it was grassy and wanted wear

The sigh is wondering what would have happened had he taken the other fork.

Michael, you don't need us. You're way too far advanced for our advice. Go ahead and put your own opinions down on paper and submit it.

But please do let us know how you do.


Les

Kidding aside, Michael's points are well taken. I think it was Pam a while back that went into great detail about the contradictions of the two roads. In one case he says there was not much to choose between the two, but goes on to say one was less traveled.

So, is the tongue-in-cheek explanation the correct one? Frost was merely saying to make a choice, based on whatever criteria you prefer? Possibly so, as he did seem to enjoy leaving the reader in a quandry, writing poems that he hoped would be 'hard to get rid of'.

My point Hugh, is why does the student have us give him an opinion, if all he wants is to argue with that opinion.

Les

Well, I forgive him that, since I am the same way. To clarify matters (or more likely, further obfuscate them), Frost apparently did deign to explain this particular poem (doubtless regretting that decision forever) as a joke on Edward Thomas, with whom he often strolled in the woods while in England (circa 1910-1915). No matter which direction they took, Thomas always wished they had gone another way. See also:

[www.english.uiuc.edu]

I love this poem very much. In our life, we come across the porblem of

choic everyday, from trival matter to big decision. It is simple from the

surface, but it means a great deal.

a huge thankyou to Les and Pam you guys are fantastic

Why this fuss by Michael about how Frost chose one of two roads? He was simply following or anticipating Yogi Berra's advice: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it".

What is the occasion and setting of the poem?

The setting is probably the English countryside, read this:

[www.english.uiuc.edu]


Les

I reallly need help finding the overall theme of this poem. I would really appreciate it if someone could help me..thanx.

Jessica, click on "flat view" at the bottom of this page and scan the answers above yours. Especially, the link I highlighted for Jacklynn.

Les

I need to discuss the diction and imagery of the poem but I really don't know anything about either and don't know where to find any info. If anyone can either help me out or give me some helpful websites that could help me that would be great.

Read the last post under the poem at this website:

[www.cs.rice.edu]

Les

Diction is what kind of language is used.

Imagery is what kind of pictures are the words drawing in your head.

pam

There's this one question about the poem I've been having trouble with. It asks who the speaker is and what kind of person is the speaker. I'm having a hard time trying to decide if the speaker is the author or if the speaker can be anyone. Please Help! THanks so much for all your previous help.

Love,
Jacklynn

It's up to you, really. I see the speaker as Frost himself.

pam

How would you paraphrase this poem? What words besides diverged seem to be well chosen and why?

Roslyn, I won't take the poem apart for you, since much of the magic of poetry is discovering, sometimes by disecting, what the poem offers. But let's take a look at this stanza:

Then took the other, as just as fair,        (clearly a choice was made here)
And having perhaps the better claim,       (this choice looked better to the author)
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;        (because fewer people had chosen it)
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,       (at the point of the division, they seemed equal, only looking

past the divison could one see that one road was more highly traveled)


If you take apart the poem, by yourself after having read it a couple of times and getting the gist of its meaning, I think you will be able to make notes similar to what I have done here.

Les



Post Edited (08-10-04 01:14)

>What words besides diverged seem to be well chosen and why?

I feel sure Mr. Frost would be confident that every single, solitary, individual, specific and penetrating word selected was well chosen,

Still, to be fair, which words does the instructor feel were poorly chosen?

That ought to get the class discussion going.

pam

What is the main theme or a theme of this poem?

[www.english.uiuc.edu]

Ok, I'm in the process of writing a formal internal documentation essay on this poem. I completely understand exactley what each stanza is talking about.
What I want to know is
1) Does the yellow wood symbolize fall---thus symbolizing older age
2) Is Frost simply writing about his conscience decision to be a writer?
Was the road less traveled simply his decision to do what most people do not?

Somebody get back to me quick.

Ok, I'm in the process of writing a formal internal documentation essay on this poem. I completely understand exactley what each stanza is talking about.
What I want to know is
1) Does the yellow wood symbolize fall---thus symbolizing older age
2) Is Frost simply writing about his conscience decision to be a writer?
Was the road less traveled simply his decision to do what most people do not?

Somebody get back to me quick.

Does anybody come here anymore?????

Well, yeah, but ya gotta wait more than 12 minutes before complaining.

>1) Does the yellow wood symbolize fall---thus symbolizing older age

Yes.

>2) Is Frost simply writing about his conscience decision to be a writer?

Yes.

>(3) Was the road less traveled simply his decision to do what most people do not?

Yes.

That is not to say those are the only interpretations, and in fact, searching this site will find many more possibilities. Still, those conclusions can be supported logically.

See the notes about Edward Thomas for Frost's own words on how/why he wrote the poem.

[www.english.uiuc.edu]

>Well, yeah, but ya gotta wait more than 12 minutes before complaining.

I think complaining after 12 minutes is appropriate in that I've only 24 minutes to complete a 500 word essay.


Les

I don't complain after twelve minutes. She does, though.



Stephen

Stephen-

Twelve minutes. Remarkable stamina. You da man!


Jack

I think it's the ability to breathe through his ears that helps.

pam

hello everybody i am enjoying the reads of everyone's conversation. my question is for a highschool assignment! all i need help with is:
what kind of information would you put in a travel agency flier entitled the road not taken for your readers to take the road less traveled. and give some reasons for doing.

I would appreciate some help thanx.

The high road versus the low road.
The differences such choices can make.
Exploring divergent cultures/ideas.
The fun is in the going/doing.
Yellow wood compared to the adventures available in later life.

hello there a little advice please. what type of poem is this i am stuck between a lyric poem which is how i interpreted it. (a poem of limited length expressing the thoughts and especially feelings of a single speaker) or a descriptive poem draws the picture with words which i can also see. and for future reference how will i know the difference.

Bo, it's an ode.

Les

Hmmm, I usually think of an ode as being much longer than this. Clicking on Chesil's note above,

>The poem is a quintain, which is a poem or stanza of five lines.

hmmm after everybodys comments of the rhyme scheme on this poem im still confused so far i have its abaab or
abaab cdccd efeef ghggh or
quadre or
quatrain.
hmm i thought the rhyme scheme was abaab abaab abaab etc. could this also be correct?
thanks for the help yesterday.
bo

Bo, go here:

[eir.library.utoronto.ca]


Les

>abaab or
>abaab cdccd efeef ghggh or

Just different ways of saying the same thing. In each stanza, the third and fourth lines rhyme with the first and the fifth rhymes with the second. Chesil is never wrong, so it must be a quintain. The quadre you mention refers to a different poem above.

you guys are great thanks


b

i have to write a verse to go with this poem, any ideas as to what to say????

hi every one...yeh i need help with The Road Not Taken aswell. i need to do an essay that includes techniques that communicate the journey in this poem ... what are these techniques? anything will be appreciatedd thanxx

please click on flat view and come back with specific questions after...

Hugh & Jol.

The "yellow wood" RLF refers to is figurative language of an autumn scene with the maples turning gold. and also (by using 'yellow wood' he presents the letter Y which is an imitation of the fork in the road.

Although, I have a question.
There are two theories I have heard of to the meaning behind this poem.
(i) That he is showing an assertion of individuality
or
(ii) That he is making a parody of a walking mate of his who used to always querie how the choices you make in life effect you in the future>

Which do you beleive???
And also, When he says he shall be telling this with a sigh.... how does anyone know whether its a sign of regret thinking he may have made the right decision or maybe he beleives he made the right one.
Although it is said he lived a very long and tragic life with many deaths to people close to him, is this why people beleive it is not a sigh of some form of hapiness?

Rabib,
What do you mean by the "techniques" used.

Most of Frosts poems can be interpreted on 3 levels.
literal scene described: nature, a story (here a walk on a road)
how HE felt about what he is describing (sorry he could not travel both)
the universal meaning (how it applies to everyone (life choices)

It is said he wrote this poem after a trip to England in 1912 and had a friend, Edward Thomas, (fellow writer/poet). They often took long walks in the coutryside and Thomas was always regretting having taken this or that path, lamenting another way could have been better. Frost always laughed at this habit, he was a person that never looked back. it is said the poem was inspised as a private joke to thomas. Frost wrote the poem after he teturned to america and sent it to Thomas, but he never got the joke. Frost had a way of writing about something all the while obscuring its secret. in this poem he hid the secret too well!
Frost told his friend Prof. Reginald Cook in 1950 that TRNT is about edward thomas.

Frost left America in 1912, after selling his farm. he had considered Vancouver but by luck chose England. After arriving in England his back luck of the 20yrs changed for the better and he found recognition as a poet. He returned to america in 1915 and was instant success. (Vancouver was a "road not taken". Going to college was another. Both of these events had major consequences.

Nik

>by using 'yellow wood' he presents the letter Y which is an imitation of the fork in the road

Is it a Y or an X? If ONE road diverges, it is a Y. If TWO roads diverge, it is an X or perhaps a +.

One may as well say that Wood was chosen for a winding road, no? I suspect the word yellow was chosen for other reasons.

Nicole,

by techniques i mean for example similes and metaphors, rhyme, symbolism e.t.c so are there any techniques in this poem like those above and what part of the poem displays them? and how do these techniques communicate to the reader what robert frost is saying about the journey. the part where you mentioned his poem is interpreted on three levels was really helpful thankyou

Rabab



Post Edited (03-11-05 19:32)

The rhymn scheme has NO name-It is a poem about choices made in life and how it affects you in life- road generally symbolised by othe poets as paths ect yellow is change eg autumn undergrowth the unknown read the poem out loud and write down ideas then re-read again and look at each word/phrase and analise

Conversely, the word 'Yellow' also presents us with an image of danger, since Yellow is the traditional colour of caution (esp. in nature).

ta? wrote:

What would the theme be for The Road Not Taken. I thought that it would basically be that the directions you will take in life, it shows people's inner conflict in dealing with difference, also that people would like to avoid decisions. Another thing is that people don't like to miss out on possibilites, but I was not sure if I was thinking right on the theme so could you please clear it up for me and that would be GREAT!~!
Thanks!~!
Erica

You could certainly argue those as the theme.

pam

Bump, for Laura.

what techniques does robert frost use in the poem the road not taken?

[www.english.uiuc.edu]

A good place to get really good information and overviews of poems along with a lot of other things is www.sparknotes.com go there and go to the poetry section and then it will have a seperate little section called Robert Frost's early poems or something like that and it has good information on the poem. Happy to help! =)

Hey - you got one right, congrats!

[www.sparknotes.com]

is this poemis ballad or soonet or narrative?

It's a narrative.

Les

Are sonnet, ballad and narrative mutually exclusive? Not sure, but see the link below for more discussion:

[www.emule.com]

If Chesil thinks it's a quintain, I would go with that for a response to a teacher-posed question. Still, if there are only three types of poetry (narrative, lyric and dramatic), I would be forced to chose lyric for this one.

<[www.poeticbyway.com]>

<[www.poeticbyway.com]>

<[www.poeticbyway.com]>

Question Hugh, does this poem not tell: The narration of an event or story, stressing details of plot, incident, and action. ?

That description taken from the glossary choice of "Narrative" at the poetic byway website.


Les



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2022 12:36PM by lg.

My thought was it lacks the (necessary) length, but I can't deny there is some justification for that label.