"The Road Not Taken"

Read "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

Remember: read at least three times.

1-page essay (front side only, skip lines).

What do you think this poem is saying or means?

7 Questions When Analyzing Poetry

Always notice the title and the punctuation first.  Be able to group the ideas.

1. Who's the speaker?  
persona - the person telling the story

2. To whom is the speaker speaking?

3. What is the poet's tone?
tone - poet's attitude towards his/her subject

4. What is the mood or atmosphere of the poem?
mood - the way the poem makes the reader feel

5. What is the theme of the poem?
theme - the poet's main idea or message he/she is trying to convey to the readers
Sometimes there will be a key line or two that contains the theme.

6. Does the poem have a pattern?  

7. What is style?
a. diction - word choice

b. figurative language / figures of speech
1. simile
2. metaphor
3. personification
4. apostrophe - directly addressing someone absent or dead
5. hyperbole - gross exaggeration

c. Concrete imagery - using words that appeal to one or more of the five senses

d. allusions - a reference
4 most common types of allusions-
1. Biblical - reference to a person, place, thing, or event in the Bible
2. literary - reference to a person, place, thing, or event in literature
3. historical - reference to a person, place, thing, or event in history
4. classical - reference to person, place, thing, or even in ancient Greek or Roman mythology