Essay Prompts on Success or Failure in School and 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost

Essay Prompt 1: Factors that May Contribute to Success or Failure in School

There are numerous causes that may contribute to an individual's success or lack thereof in school during the semester. Three specific factors play a pivotal role in either the success or failure of a student in a school semester. This essay will explore how causes like hard work, the health well-being of the student, and a conducive environment are important to a student's academic performance (Brumbaugh, 1939).

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The academic success of a student during a semester is boosted substantially by their health well-being. The physical and mental health of the student is a crucial factor in determining whether the student eventually succeeds or fails in their school work at the end of the semester. Bad health is a recipe for failure as it affects the student's focus on their academic work.

The amount of effort that a student injects in their school work is directly proportional to their end of semester academic performance. That is why it is important for learners to work hard in their studies to attain good grades at the end of the semester. Lazy students with a bad attitude and work ethic in their school work are likely to fail in their school work.

Equally significant in determining whether a student passes or fails in their academic work at the end of the semester is a conducive environment for the student. The earning environment at school should enable the student to concentrate in their studies without any distractions. The same goes for the environment created at home by parents and other relatives.

A conducive environment and the health well-being of the student are essential factors in the academic success or failure of the student. However, it is the hard work plus commitment that the student that is most important and impactful on the student's academic performance.

Essay Prompt 2: Literary Analysis of 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost

The stand out theme of the poem 'The Road Not Taken' is the fact that it is difficult to know where a life-changing choice will lead (Orr, 2015). This means that any individual who gets an opportunity should make a decision confidently and in a swift manner. Making this choice leaves the person wondering what could have been the eventual outcome if they had taken the other road, the road not taken.

The key message that the poet conveys here is that life is always full of choices. This is evident from the dilemma that the speaker faces of what road to take when they come upon two splitting roads where they have to choose one for their journey to continue. Both of the roads cannot be chosen as the individual has to settle on one that their guts select.

The narrator of the poem seems to be in a meditative mood and tone (Orr, 2015). This is because they are faced with two choices which they are required to evaluate carefully before settling on one. The decision to be made is a weighty one as only one road can be selected at the expense of the other.

Robert Frost applied various literary and poetic devices when penning this poem. There is evident rhythm and rhyming in the end syllables of the poem. The title of the poem, 'The Road Not Taken', is figurative and metaphorical because the author uses the road to refer to life as a journey (Orr, 2015). Life will mostly offer two alternatives as presented by the splitting roads and it is upon the individual to make a life-altering choice by pursuing one road while leaving the other as they cannot travel on both. the road and the point of splitting are symbolic just as is the use of the color yellow that denotes and indecisive moment.

References

Brumbaugh, A. (1939). Factors Contributing to Success or Failure in College. The School Review, 47(9), 707-709. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1082043

Orr, D. (2015). The road not taken: Finding America in the poem everyone loves and almost everyone gets wrong. New York: Penguin Press.