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What are some techniques or language features in Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" that show that the success of a journey depends on the traveller?

The continued emphasis on the traveller is our first clue that the success of a journey depends on the traveller himself. In line three, the speaker admits he is but "one traveller" who stands at a crossroads. The choice of which path to take is entirely up to him, and he weighs both his options equally in the first and second stanzas of the poem. When the speaker decides to take the road less travelled, the repetition of the word "I" in lines 18 and 19 puts further emphasis on the individual:



"Two roads diverged in the wood and I - 


I took the one less travelled by..."



The repetition of the word "I" at the end of line 18 and the very beginning of line 19 is proof that a journey - whether or not to take it, where to go, etc. - depends entirely on the individual. The inclusion of a hyphen at the end of the line creates a pause that requires the reader to linger on the individual as well.


The final line of the poem also contributes to the idea that the success of a journey depends on the traveller; the speaker's choice "has made all the difference." His famous sigh in line 16 allows the reader to make inferences about the true success of the voyage - is the speaker weary from his travels? Is it a sigh of content or of disappointment? Should the speaker have taken the road more travelled? 


The poetic content, repetition, and punctuation use prove that journeys are dependent on travelers. 

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