Michael Portera

Literary Critical Reading Guide

Use the following outline to guide you through an "active reading" of poetry. These
steps will assist you
in identifying key literary elements and opening the rich relationships of those
elements.
Analyze the content of the poem
1) Read the poem carefully.
2) Summarize the poem briefly. Make sure you identify major characters, plot,
conflict, topic, etc.

The poem is simply about many things, but the fact that in life
their maybe two
Ways or paths in life, but you still can only choose one. The
conflict was to pick
Between two roads and he chooses the road less travelled by. The
topic is making
Tough decisions in life
Analyze the Structure of the poem
1) Identify the poems structure (stanzas, line breaks, punctuation) and rhyme
scheme (if there is one).
The poem is constructed of 5 stanzas with few punctuation with commas and
some semi colons.
2) Explain how the author uses time.
The author uses time throughout his poem and his life
3) Explain how the author uses setting.
There is not a set place except the woods
4) Identify the point(s) of view through which the poem is written.
1st person
Analyze Rhetorical Elements
1) Identify literary devices e.g., metaphor, simile, personification, etc. Cite line
numbers for each.

Michael Portera
Metaphor Choosing in between the paths in the woods as representing a
persons life by being stuck in-between decisions
Simile a path in the woods is like the persons life and the options of choices
2) Identify reoccurring image patterns.
Nothing is reoccurring
3) Explain the author's use of symbols. Identify what the symbol is and what it
stands for
The author uses a path in the woods as representing a persons life by being stuck
in between decisions
4) Identify special uses of language, including unusual diction and syntax.
N/A
Analyze the Meaning of the poem (Interpretation)
1) Identify what seems to be the theme (dominant message or claim) and how
the author announces it.
The theme is being in the woods and being confused on which path to follow
and the author announces it through someones lifetime
2) Explain how rhetorical elements (in the section above) contribute to the
theme.
The elements describe the theme and help relate someones life to the
choices or decisions they have made and the road not taken
3) Identify contextual elements (allusions, symbols, other devices) that point
beyond the poem to the author's experience/life, history, or to other writings.
It is a huge poem because of its symbolism and how good the literary device
relate to real life
Analysis
The poem the road not taken is about a man in the woods and is stuck in his life
between a fork in the road and which way he shall travel. He is having to make a
tough decision in his life and is unsure which road to take. He is self reliant in his
decisions because just like everyone else in life sometimes although you do not
know which decision to make you will have to make it on yourself.