A Formalist Approach to Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken

A Formalist Approach to Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken

There are many ways to analyze the poetry, one of the approach is using the formalist theory. As
discussed in An Introduction to Literary Studies (1999), the formalist concerned about literary
structure; using phonemic device not the phonetic content. Therefore, using the formalist theory will
help to analyze the elements of the poem in order to look its effect in the meaning of the poem. The
poem that will be analyze using formalism approach is “The road Not Taken” poem by Robert Frost.

The first lets take a look from the speaker of the poem. As I see that the speaker “I” in the poem
“The Road Not Taken”, is in the middle of journey somewhere in a wood and stands between two
roads that he had to choose. The evident that show the speaker see the two roads in front of him,
when he writes “two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” The speaker had to stand and choosing
which is road he had to take, so this poem is kind of a Lyric Poem which express the thoughts, or
feeling to the poet. Hence the tone of the poem can directly see that there is a confusion and
hesitation in order to which road to choose. It is makes the reader nerve whether the speaker
choose the right road for himself.

Besides, the other characteristics like imagery, symbol, overstatement, sound, and the stanzaic
structure are given a meaning to the poem. The using of imagery in this poem is more concrete than
abstract and mostly visual. The imagery in the poem can be seen in the first stanza and the second
stanza. The evident is when the speaker writes “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” in line 1 and
“Because it was grassy and wanted wear” in line 8. The word of “yellow wood” and “it was grassy”
those are show the verbal imagery for the poem. It shows the concrete representation of the object
that describe in the poem.

After that, I found that “The Road Not Taken” is symbolized the choice in life. For the first stanza, the
reader just know the choice that the speaker had to make is only about the road choice. However
the reader will know that the choice is not only about the simple choice of the road in the last
stanza. The speaker believes that his choice will be affect to his future. It will make a difference in his
life somehow. Therefore the choice of the road symbolized any choice in life that affects the
future. In this poem there is repetition and overstatement. The repetition can be seen in the fourth
stanza line 18 “Two roads diverged in a wood” and overstatement can be seen in line 17
“Somewhere ages and ages hence.” It means the speaker wants to show how the choice can effects
his life in the future.
Robert Frost also uses various of sound in this poem in order to emphasize some sections of the
poem. He uses alliteration, assonance, rhyme, rhythm. The alliteration which is the repeated of
consonant sounds can be seen in the poem with the use of  “r,” “t,” and “s” in all stanza. In the first
and third stanza dominantly use alliteration “r” and “t,” in the second and fourth stanza use
alliteration “r” and “s.” It makes the sound of the poem rough.

There is a various assonance which is the repeatation of vowel sounds in the poem. The “Road Not
Taken” poem use asonance such as “u,” and “o.” We can see assonance “u” in the words “two,”
“wood,” “stood,” “looked,” “took,” it means that the speaker see the two roads in the wood and he
stood to look which is the road that he should choose. Next is the “o” sound in the words “sorry,”
“not,” “both,” “for,” “morning,” “no,” “trodden” it means that the speaker emphasize that he can
not choose both roads and finally he choose one of the road that person rarely passing there.    

In the poem there are two kinds of rhyme, feminine rhyme and masculine rhyme. The feminine
rhyme can be seen if the final syllabel of a rhymed word is unstressed. The masculine rhyme can be
seen if the final syllabel is stressed. However this poem uses the masculine rhyme, because the final
syllabel in the poem is stressed. The poem consists of four stanzas with five lines each and the rhyme
scheme of this poem is ABAAB-CDCCD-EFEEF-GHGGH. For example, take a look at the first stanza:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, (A)

From the example above we can know this poem has 9 syllabel each line and the rhythm of the
poem is basically iambic, which means that there is one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable. The most common use of iambs in poetry is in pentameter, which means that there are five
“feet,” or units of stressed and unstressed syllables, in the poem. But the poem of “The Road Not
Taken”  is in iambic tetrameter, which means that there are only four feet (tetra = four). Besides
there is also the other kinds of rhythm that is anapestic, which means that there are two unstressed
syllables followed by a stressed syllable. We see the example lines :

To where | it bent| in the un|dergrowth

Each of the four feet in this line is iambic except for the third, because both “in” and “the” are
unstressed syllables, making the rhythm an anapest. Besides Robert Frost uses monosyllable line in
this poem, they are useful and not waste the space in the poem. We see some of the words such as
“sigh,” and “ages” convey hesitation about the choose of the road. There is one caesura used in
fourth stanza line 3, which reads, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I─”. The caesura function is to
emphasis on “I.” The speaker “I” show the feeling of hesitation, uncertainty about the choice, then it
will related to the next line “Took the one less traveled by” it explain that finally the speaker make
his decision.

The stanzaic structure in every poem is important, because it can help to reveal the feeling and the
place of the poem. The lines of the poem assosiated the road in the wood. The poem’s lines also
reveal the confusion feeling.

After analyzing “The Road Not Taken” poem by Robert Frost with the formalist approach, we can see
that the formalist approach can applies well to the poem. Some elements of the poem use in this
poem such as imagery, symbol, tone, overstatement, sounds, and also stanzaic structure. They are
important to get the meaning of the poem. The meaning of the poem related to our life which is
sometimes in the life we face some choice that we had to choose. In this poem, the idea is using the
nature (wood) to explain that there are two roads in the wood, one of the road is often pass by
person and the others rarely pass by person. The speaker in the end choose the road that rarely pass
by person. It is related in our life, sometimes we also choose the choise that other person rarely
choose. However the choice that we choose can effect the future. In conclusion, the different ways
can reveal the meaning of the poem, and the formalist approach is one of the possible choice.

Works cited

Klarer, Mario. An Introduction to Literary Studies. London: Routledge. 1999.

The Road Not Taken

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,

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─

Took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.