The Importance of Every Decision in The Road Not Taken"Two roads diverged in a woods, and I -- / took the one less traveled by, / And that did the difference." “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is a lyrical poem about the decisions one must make in life. When a man approaches a fork in the road on which he is traveling, he must choose which road to take. The choice he makes, like all choices made in life, affects him in a way that "made a difference." Thematically, the poem argues that no matter how small a decision is, that decision will affect a person's life forever. “The Road Not Taken” is told as a first-person narrative. The narrator looks back at the decisions that influenced him. The decision illustrated in the poem would have occurred at a much earlier time in the narrator's life. It is possible for a reader to become so involved in the poem that they become the narrator. Everyone has made decisions, and since the purpose of this poem is to discuss and address those decisions, it would be easy to look past the narrator and see oneself. The choice of words used in the poem portrays the speaker very effectively. The language used is very simple, almost as if the narrator is not speaking, but thinking, because the language of thoughts tends to be simple without using words. which require a dictionary to define. The simple, almost quiet and seductive tone works to draw the reader into the poem allowing them to become the narrator. Throughout the poem, Frost uses imagery that could be interpreted as quite simple and very specific or incredibly involved and extremely general. For example, interpreting images such as "Two roads... in a detective story...... in the center of the card......ming the lines do not necessarily contain the same number of syllables. This choice by Frost brings out the reader in the poem, but keeps the mood thoughtful as the narrator looks back on his life, the decisions he has made, and their results In perhaps his best-known poem, Frost recognizes something everyone should realize The simple image of a man who decides which path to follow is suddenly transformed into a description of life by the mastery of Frost's poetic hand. No matter how small a decision may seem at the time it is made, that decision will affect a person's life forever, or at least. Frost says every choice will make “a difference.” Work cited Frost, Robert “The North Introduction To Literature” 6th edition Paul Hunter New York: W. W. Norton, 1995. 1097.