Sunday 19 July 2015

Which word best describes the tone of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”?

Tone refers the writer's attitude toward his subject. In Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," the word I would use to describe the tone would be "uncertain" or "doubtful." We see this in how the speaker reacts to the decision, represented by the two roads,  that he has to make. 


In the first stanza, the poem's speaker, referring to the two roads, says



. . . long I stood


And looked down one as far...


Tone refers the writer's attitude toward his subject. In Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," the word I would use to describe the tone would be "uncertain" or "doubtful." We see this in how the speaker reacts to the decision, represented by the two roads,  that he has to make. 


In the first stanza, the poem's speaker, referring to the two roads, says



. . . long I stood


And looked down one as far as I could


To where it bent in the undergrowth.



The speaker is having trouble making up his mind. He's basically standing around in the woods trying to decide what to do next. We see how uncertain he is by the time involved. He had to stand there for a "long" time before he could even think about making up his mind. 


In the second stanza, the word "perhaps" tells the reader that, despite the time it took him to make his decision, he still isn't at all sure he made the right one. 


In the third stanza, when considering whether or not he would ever return to the wood to try the other road, he uses the word "doubted." He isn't sure what he will do in the future regarding this decision.


In the final stanza, the speaker imagines that he will "sigh" in the future when he  thinks about the decision he has made. He already knows that he will be uncomfortable about his choice for the rest of his life. 

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