The Road Not Taken

“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 kept 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.

Analysis:

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost describes the choices we make and the effects they will have on us. Choices are made every day for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we are presented with a choice that may seem so important that we are unsure of which one to choose. The theme of “The Road Not Taken” would be carpe diem: that is when we make a decision on a choice to make the best of it.

In “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost he uses a ‘diverged road’ as a metaphor for making a choice. There is a ‘ABAAB’ rhyme scheme in the stanzas that helps when reading it. In the first stanza he is presented with the “two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, or a decision to make. He then contemplates which way he should go. In the second stanza he chooses the other path, “Because it was grassy and wanted wear;/Though as for that, the passing there/Had worn them really about the same”. Once making his decision he realizes that they were traveled the same and possible hopes one day he will be presented with the same choice again. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back”, he starts to wonder if his decision was the best that he could have taken. It ends on an ironic note because he predicts he will tell this story with a ‘sigh’ wondering what the other choice had to offer. However, in his story his choice will seem dignified, because he will say “I took the one less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference.”.

Sometimes the choices we are presented with in life are tough, but life goes on and we must live with the decisions we make. Robert Frost uses nature to express the uncertainty of his decisions because he will never know what the other path had to offer.

Source:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/44272
Published: 1916