PREPARED BY

Warda Aslam
Roll No : 001
Semester : 2nd
Wardadogar895@gmail.com

Linguistic Theories
Structuralist and Formalist Analysis
of the
Poem

Registration No : 2021s-mulmpl-ling-001
Department : English
Submitted To : Dr Waqasia Naeem
 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,

And having perhaps the better claim,

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—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

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. 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. 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. 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.

A Structuralist Approach to Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken:

A structuralist critic looks at the structure of a poem (e. g., sonnet, villanelle), its vocabulary and sentence structure,
and its use of metaphorical language. Structuralism focuses on what is intrinsic to the work (that is, only what is within
the poem itself) and ignores extrinsic matter. The poem consists of four stanzas of five lines each. With the rhyme
scheme as 'ABAAB', the first line rhymes with the third and fourth, and the second line rhymes with the fifth. The poem
is celebrated at least partly because it can be easily reduced to an adage, but it is among Frost’s best, most riveting, and
most complex. It is an epic work in its ambiguity and seeming simplicity. The roads do not intertwine, but the language
does until the reader is lost in that autumn yellow wood, wondering if neither road was traveled or if both were. The “I”
of “I took the one less traveled by” makes all the difference, as the repetition of the first person throughout emphasizes.
The poem moves from a story about a walk in autumn to a story about the traveler himself. Soon it is not about the
season or the road. Frost once denied being a nature poet, saying that he must not be one since he had written only two
poems without a human being in them, and this is a particularly important point to keep in mind in the reading of this
poem. ‘The Road Not Taken’ actually steers clear of advising on selecting a definitive path. Frost’s take on this is
slightly complicated. The grassy roads and yellow woods represent the present as the individual views from a future
perspective. This self-realization is pathetic and ironic in itself. The future self will regret first his decision about taking
the road less traveled on. In hindsight, his regret is everlasting in this case point.

Conclusion:

We have discussed a poem ‘The Road Not Taken” by “Robert Frost” accoring to formalist and strucralist approach.
Struclasim focuses on intrinsic elements and ignores extrensic elements. As far as formalist approach is concerned about
literary structure by using fonamic devices. The formalist theory will help to analyze the elements of the poem through
the anaysis of the “text”.