Identify one example of figurative language in robert frost's "the road not taken" and explain how it relates to the poem's larger themes.

This poem is an example of an extended metaphor.

A metaphor is a comparison between two things that are not alike. In this case, a road and life are being compared. In this extended metaphor, the speaker never actually makes a direct comparison between life and the road.  In other words, he does not say life is a road.  Yet the entire poem implies it.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took...

    In Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," he uses a lot of metaphors. Frost, for one, is doing this by comparing these roads, in the poem, to life. In the beginning, it starts with this character choosing between different "roads," as they go on to describe how one looked more promising, while the other was "bent in the undergrowth."  These metaphors help shape the deeper of Frost's story because, without the imaginative comparison between these roads and life, it would have been difficult for Frost to describe how heavily these decisions impacted this character later on in their life.

Explanation:

((( USE MY ANSWER AS AN EXAMPLE )))

This question is asking you to give an example of how "The Road Not Taken" uses ONE of the forms of figurative speech. Just pick one of the ones below and see if you can apply it to the poem.

((( If you wanna make a note to keep on the different forms of speech read below, but I would highly suggest keeping note of this so you won't have to keep looking up the different meanings! If you have any questions you are free to message me and I'll try my best to reply asap )))

The lesson, prior to this question, describes different forms of figurative language. These are the different forms told in this lesson all summed up:

A metaphor is an implied imaginative comparison between unlike things. An example of a metaphor is "it's raining cats and dogs!"

Imagery is highly descriptive language that appeals to the senses. For example, "the lights dim, an explosion of crunching commences as puffs of light, buttery paradise burst into the scene."

Personification is when you give human characteristics to nonhuman things. An example of this is "the trees weep."

A simile is an imaginative comparison between unlike things using like or as. For example, "I’m like a bird. I’m smooth like glass. Your heart is like a stone, and this theatre is like a class."

Lastly, irony is the opposite of what you might expect. Like when a firehouse catches on fire.

-- the examples I have stated are in the lesson prior to the question --

21 balloons is the story of professor william sherman's travels.

in 1883, he set off from san francisco for a balloon ride over the pacific and was found a month later floating with 21 balloons in the atlantic ocean. this seemed an astounding feat and everyone wanted to know what had happened.    

professor sherman was loyal, however, and said he would tell his tale first to the western american explorers club in san francisco, of which he was a member. this built up suspense for several chapters before he began to tell of the wonders of his adventures and the amazing island of krakatoa, an island which had just been blown up by a volcano.  

the residents of krakatoa are all millionaires who live under a "gourmet government" of their own devising. we get to see all the incredible adventures that creative people with unlimited resources would create according to the author.