Analysis is a careful examination of something to understand it better. We analyze something to make it more clear, or to find meanings that are hidden. Read the poem, and then the analytical paragraph below it.
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
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 marked 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
This poem focuses on the choice between two paths. The person in the woods feels sad that he cannot take both paths, but of course must decide on one path. He takes the one less traveled by, that people do not use as often, and says that it has made all the difference. However, we can see from the middle of the poem that they looked really about the same. Still, the choice made a difference in the end. We can also view this poem as a metaphor for life, since we often have two or more choices we must make. Every choice, like the paths in the woods, makes a difference. This is even true when the choices appear to be the same at the time. We must all make our choices carefully.
Notice how the analysis focuses on the poem and examines the meaning. The focus on meaning is the main part of analysis.
Exercise
Write a one-paragraph analysis of this short video. It’s called The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.
