Robert_Frost_Journey

Like all artistic expressions, poetry finds it origins in the experiences of its creator. Therefore when a poet speaks in the first person ‘I’ it is possible that they intend to reveal something about themselves. Robert frost got his inspiration to conduct poems from the 20th century which the romonatisicims were in; these people who favoured individualism, respect for the natural world, idealism, physical and emotional passion, these ideas are seen throughout his poems as he discusses universal human experiences. They have effectively helped shape my point of view, perspectives and insights of how Robert frost portrays his personal life metaphorically into his poems into his poems. “The Road Not Taken” and “Fire and Ice”; both these poems display simple titles although metaphorically they represent so much more. Robert Frost explains universal human experiences, creating the context of the poem so the reader becomes enlightened and is made to feel the experiences that Robert Frost himself conquered and overcame. These issues can be expressed through the themes of choice, destruction and courage. The first theme that Robert Frost depicts in his poems is choice. In life and during human experiences choice can play an enormous part depending on the situation displayed at the time. In the poem “The Road not Taken” Robert Frost metaphorically displays choice using the diversion of two roads. Robert Frost sets a sad tone to the poem shown by the word “sorry”. The quote ‘long I stood’ shows that the traveller is pondering and trying to make a decision, the use of repetition of ‘and’ in stanza 1 indicates his indecisiveness and his illation. In stanza three the line “yet knowing how way leads on to way”, recognises he may have many choices such as this; repetition of the long ‘ay’ sound slows the pace of the poem and shows the passage of time. The words ‘two’ and ‘to’ at the beginning and the end of the poem sets a sense of exploration and curiosity to the reader making them question his choice of the two paths. In the last line of stanza 1 ‘bent in the undergrowth’ depicts his possibilities of the future depending on the curtail choice he makes. In contrast the poem “Fire and Ice” also depicts the theme of choice, displaying in the heading of the poem, from the very beginning Robert Frost makes the reader decide which they would chose. The heading of “Fire and Ice” is very symbolic and literal as these objects are very opposite; the two cannot meet and combined as one, just like the two roads that diverge. Robert Frost separates Fire from Ice comparing their differences. This is shown in the poem caused by the line breaks this separates them and displays disagreement and creates a difficult choice when compared. “Fire and Ice” are metaphorically used to represent hot and cold emotions expressed by a human’s choice and how they react. This is also shown in the poem “The Road not Taken” each road represents a different journey so does the choice of either fire or ice. Both poems display the theme of choice throughout the poem and each poem metaphorically relates to human experiences and how choice can affect the journey someone may take. Once you make a choice in life weather big or small the option you do not choose is always destroyed. Otherwise the opportunity that was not taken may never be taken because the time of essence will destroy it. Destruction is presented and compared metaphorically throughout “The road not taken”. The use of imagery in the line “then took the other, as just as fair” illustrates the two roads had been similar although he is beginning to see the changes and normally in a humans journey of life they will choose the path that best suits them and destroy the supplementary. In stanza four the word sigh in line one represents onomatopoeia and senses regret that he needed to choose on and the other will be destroyed with regret.