Metaphor in 'The Road Not Taken': Literary Criticism Essay

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Introduction

I Am is a poem composed by an English poet, John Clare. He was born in 1793 and died in May 1864 – Clare was well known as the “Northamptonshire Peasant Poet” due to his lowly class origin and brief education. Suffering from bouts of depression, Clare’s poem revolves around his life circumstances and despair. Robert Lee Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, explores the theme of choice and the ramifications of decision making. These poems have been selected for comparison on the basis of a connected theme of abandonment as well as the contrasting ways in which each poet deftly conveys their message.

Theme/Message

The Road Not Taken explores the theme of choice – where humans are confronted with decisions, and are subsequently molded by their choices. This notion is explored by Frost, where the speaker is confronted with a fork in the road, forced to select which path to take. Dissimilarly, Clare’s I Am explores a wide range of dystopian themes, including abandonment, insanity, and death. Clare explicitly yearns for death in the last stanza, though he also explores it throughout the poem implicitly. He writes there is no “sense of life,” where in part, he wishes to perish as he is surrounded by a metaphorically dead world, where friends are “gone,” and sounds are mere “noise.” This dystopian motif is greatly contrasted against Frost’s theme of decision, where the fork in the road must be selected – though he suggests this choice comes with contentment. This is highlighted in the last line, where the speaker comes to the realization that the choices “have made all the difference.” Here Clare is alluding to the ownership of choice, where, regardless of the decision, the individual must own it.

The speaker of I Am provides insight into how the world is viewed by a person afflicted with mental illness. “Woes” become visible, sounds are indiscernible, and people are different. Though the poem doesn’t explicitly state the cause of such suffering, it is indicated a state of extreme loneliness largely affects one’s state of mind – tying in with Clare’s personal experience. Comparably, though peripherally, Frost explores how choice is inevitable and takes note of the agonizing element of the decision, and leaving options behind. This idea of confrontation is disconcerting, where there is no way to alleviate the burden, and the fork in the road is forced upon individuals.

Structure/Rhyme Scheme

Frost’s The Road Not Taken, is made up of four stanzas, comprised of five lines each in an abab rhyme scheme, with eight to ten syllables in each line following an iambic-type rhythm. Similarly, Clare’s poem I Am, uses iambic pentameter, though more explicitly than Frost: “I am yet what I am none cares or knows.” There are two feet – “I am,” which are short or stressed syllables, also referred to as a spondee, and are followed by long syllables – establishing a forceful tone. Varyingly, Frost writes his poem with four feet – hence using iambic tetrameter, though there are many variations within the poem, most commonly using two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (anapaestic). As the stressed syllable is the emphasized part of the word and the unstressed syllable is its counterpart, Clare effectively uses iambic tetrameter to establish a slow pace. Clare additionally develops tone through structure, where the speaker is proceeding slowly – perhaps unsure if he is on the correct path. This is suggested in the last stanza – the speaker repeats “I”, this alludes to the speaker stopping and hesitating. I Am is composed of three rhyming stanzas, each having six lines; a sestet. In contrast to The Road Not Taken, Clare uses the rhyme scheme ababab in the first stanza, with the last two rhyming ababcc – ending with a couplet. Moreover, in both poems structure and theme are intrinsically linked, where Frost uses a unique structure to allude to the speaker’s hesitation and further highlight the complications of choice. In contrast, Clare uses iambic pentameter, varying rhyme scheme as well as a couplet to establish a serious tone, perhaps for the audience to realize the severity of his situation, thereby tying in with the content of his message.

Symbolism

Clare’s inclusion of a final couplet is a symbol of harmony, “Untroubling and untroubled where I lie. The grass below – above the vaulted sky.” Here Clare is indicating that, in spite of his great suffering and despair, he has found a sense of balance. Though a superficially dejected wish – that is, yearning for death, it is a positive and hopeful desire. This is recognized due to the structure of the poem, where the content of the words peaceful and death link harmoniously. In Contrast, Frost uses an extended metaphor to explore the theme of choice. The first line, “two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” this figurative road is a metaphor for choice. The speaker comes to the point where to move forward, he is precluding one path in choice of another. Moreover, the fork in the road is symbolic of how choice is invariably connected with abandonment; where the roads not taken may be regretted. This notion ties in with the final stanza, lines 13 – 15, “Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way.” Here, the speaker realizes the nature of the roads is that he cannot return to his current position; a metaphor for a decision that changes one’s life. The speaker longs for both roads, however, he realizes he cannot return.

The notion of abandonment is explored contrastingly by Clare; rather than leaving options behind, it’s people. “They rise and vanish in oblivious host,” Clare is referring to his woes, therefore this is personification. His woes are mysterious, and they are real to the speaker, but disappear suddenly, begging the question of their existence. To further add to this, lines 6 – 7, “And yet I am, and live – as vapors tossed. Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,” Clare uses this simile to establish his invisibility to those around him; perhaps the vapor is a symbol of death. Line 9 expresses Clare’s entrapment, “where there is neither sense of life or joys,” the speaker appears to be stuck, possibly having no future. Comparably, lines 4-5 in The Road Not Taken contain a metaphor for the future, “And looked down one as far as I could. To where it bent in the undergrowth.” Frost is referring to a path in the woods, the undergrowth suggests that one is incapable of seeing the future ramifications of a choice. Frost further explores this notion in line 6, “then took the other, as just as fair.” The speaker has decided that despite having spent a while looking down one path, the other has been selected. This can be interpreted as a metaphor for sudden choice – where individuals find themselves having selected something inadvertently, perhaps due to external forces.

Conclusion

The Road Not Taken concerns the present, and how it would look from a vantage point in the future. Ultimately, the decision made will follow the speaker for the rest of his life, and how different paths comprise different outcomes. The poem is quite ambiguous, hence contrasting interpretations can be made, particularly whether previous choices have been for the better or worse. Likewise, Clare’s I Am is ambiguous, where the title is a placeholder, naming it as such, Clare invites the audience to question his identity and learn of him.

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Metaphor in ‘The Road Not Taken’: Literary Criticism Essay

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