The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is about the important choices we make in life and about how once we make these choices, we usually cannot go back and start again.
In the poem, the road represents the narrator's journey through life, and the woods represent the difficulties and complexities that inevitably befall him no matter what choices he makes. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator has reached a crucial moment at which he must make a decision before he can move on. He has two alternatives, and he takes a long time deciding which would be more favorable to him. They look similar, and ultimately seem worn down "really about the same." However, the narrator perceives that one side is "grassy and wanted wear." Although to an impartial observer the paths may seem about the same, this phrase tells us that to the narrator, this side maybe be fresher and more inviting for his particular individual circumstances.
After he has made his decision, he considers that perhaps he might be able to come back and try the path he has not chosen "another day," but he realizes even as he contemplates this that "way leads on to way." In other words, he doubts that he will return to this point, because once he makes this decision, the road of life will lead him to other forks where he has to continue to make choices.
Finally, the narrator considers that far into the future, when he is relating the story to others, he will tell them that he chose "the one less traveled," and that choice has made a difference in his life. However, he will say this "with a sigh," as if he regrets not getting a chance to go back and see where choosing the other path might have brought him. The poem is entitled "The Road Not Taken" to commemorate those moments when we look back with regret, or at least curiosity, to important choices we have made in life and wonder how things would have turned out if we had made the other choice.
The previous posts helped to illuminate much of the complexity of this poem. The title of the poem brings to light the powerful and problematic condition of choice that human beings endure in the process of self definition. The idea of a literal fork in the road, where two equally desirable, but ultimately incompatible courses of action pit an individual in the unenviable predicament of having to choose reveals much about the essence of individual identity. This is a critical element in Frost's work. In examining the choice made by the speaker, the choice "that has made all the difference," one begins to fully graps the thematic implications of making choices and agonizing decisions. While we might be plagued with wondering what might have been, the speaker suggests that we, as individuals, must make some level of peace with the choices we make for their are ours, and in being our own, must represent the type of decisions "that make all the difference." The title being the sum total of what was not undertaken reveals and underscores the importance of being content with the decisions we make.
This is Frost in his own words:
"One stanza of 'The Road Not Taken' was written while I was sitting on a sofa in the middle of England: was found three or four years later, and I couldn't bear not to finish it. I wasn't thinking about myself there, but about a friend who had gone off to war, a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn't go the other. He was hard on himself that way."
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference August 1953
Two roads that were pretty much the same, two paths of life, two choices, presented themselves to the narrator. He chose one of the two paths:
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.
That's our lot in this brief existence of ours: we make a few decisions early on, then way leads on to way, and pfft, we're seventy. We know the life we've chosen and lived, but the other life, the road not taken, we'll never have a chance to know where that one may have taken us.
Explain the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
In Stanza 1 of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken, the speaker is in a wood in autumn when leaves fall and comes upon a fork in the road ("Two roads diverged"). He laments that he can't divide himself and travel both roads because both look appealing. Knowing a decision must be made, he gazes long down one road, peering as far as he can.
Stanza 2 starts with the announcement that he "took the other" road. His reasoning was that (1) the road he chose was as appealing as the first; (2) the road he chose was "grassy and wanted wear." This line often trips us up because "want" has more meanings than are commonly used. "Want" (verb) is most often used in its meaning to feel inclined; wish; like [Random House dictionary on Dictionary.com] as in, "We'll stay if you want to" or "I don't want to see that movie." But there are other meanings for "want," one of which is to have a lack or a deficiency of something: "her dress wanted ironing." Frost is saying that the road lacked wear (wear meaning use) or it had a deficient amount of wear. So "wants wear" equates to the having had few travelers.
Then Frost throws in a bit of a twist by saying that actually, over time both roads had just about the same number of travelers after all: "Had worn them really about the same." This indicates that the careers or life styles represented by the roads were both fairly unique and that neither drew all that many travelers. You might think of this as being an FBI bureau chief or a White House Counsel (attorney), neither one has many people who follow down the path.
The third Stanza says that when the speaker came upon the roads during his travels (symbolizing the course of his life), both roads were covered in autumn leaves that "no step had trodden black." The more walkers there are, the more trampled and mixed with earth the leaves on the path becomes. Then he declares that his decision is made: "I marked the first for another day!" Again, you need to think of "mark" in terms of an uncommon definition. In this usage he doesn't "mark" like you make a mark with chalk. This usage of "mark" as a verb means to single out or designate. In other words, the speaker singles out or designates the first path for another day's travels. He then laments that, according to the way life goes, he may never take the same walk to the same fork again, leaving it forever untraveled.
The last Stanza projects into the future as he speculates that he will tell the tale of the two roads in the woods, the fork in the road of his life. The first line of this Stanza says he will be "telling this with a sigh." There are different kinds of sighs. The most familiar is the sigh of sorrow or lamenting. But there are also sighs of relief; sighs of longing; sighs of contentment or pleasure. The last part of the poem says "...and I, / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference." There is no note of sorrow or regret in this statement. The first "and I" is in an unstressed sentence position at the end of the line. This produces a reading that is not one of despair or agitation, as would be the case if the repetitions were both at the start of a line carrying sentence stress. This indicates that the "difference" at the end of the last line of the poem is a good difference preceded by a sigh of contentment at life's fulfillment. Robert Frost knew precisely what reader emotion he wanted to evoke and how to evoke that emotion.
Explain the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
- First stanza - the poet is standing in the woods and has the choice of taking two roads. He states he is only one traveler, so he has to choose - he cannot travel down both, although he wishes he could.
- Second stanza - he decides to take the second road because it is pretty, lots of grass and looks like it "wants wear" - it seems to be a less-traveled road; but he says that it is probably "just as fair" as the one he did not choose.
- He continues walking down the second road, sees that no one else appears to have come that way yet as there are no footprints. He muses that perhaps he will go down the other road another time, but he may not even come back this way - who knows?
- He says that someday, he may be telling the story about "the road not taken" - the one "less traveled" - but alas, he did choose this road, and it has made all the difference in his life.
Some people believe this is an autobiographical poem, with Frost describing his own life, that he chose to be a poet, a life that not too many choose, but it has worked out for him. So "road not taken" becomes a metaphor for his life path.
Since this is poetry, it can mean anything we want it to mean, which is the beauty of reading poetry. I like to think that the poem has a more universal theme - taking chances in life, trying new things, choosing "the road not taken" by others. We are all faced with choices every day - which ones will we make? Some of the choices turn out well, as in this poem, but some do not (in the short story The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom Walker takes a different road, a short cut, and he meets the devil!).
Read about Frost here on enotes and see what YOU think!
What is the whole explanation for the poem, "The Road Not Taken"?
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;
The two roads symbolize, obviously, the choices that the speaker faces in life. He cannot take both, as much as he would like to, so he spends time in comtemplation and observation. He cannot see far, not far enough to make a confident decision as to the better nature of one over the other. The fact that it is a "yellow wood" perhaps indicates that, as fall is often a symbol of the waning years of one's life, the speaker is past his youth, when he can make a choice with the confidence that it is correctible at a later time. The choice he makes will be permanent, highly impacting the rest of his fast-disappearing days. As one approaches middle age, he comes to grip with the fact that his time for hopes and dreams is past; he must come to grips with the reality created by the choices he has made.
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,
Here the speaker seems to be contradictory. He has made a choice, but is still unsure about it. It is "just as fair" yet it has "the better claim." Then again, there is no appreciable difference as the "passing there / Had worn them really about the same." He is still trying to convince himself that either choice would have been acceptable (just in case this path proves ill-advised). He cannot quite make up his mind about the wisdom of his decision.
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.
The speaker is still in the process of convincing himself, even to the point of self-delusion. He tries to tell himself that, should this road proves not the right one, he will have the chance to go back to take the other road. Yet, in a road of complete honesty, he knows that life will probably not allow him the choice to return, even if he should wish to. He has transitioned to the point where he realizes that his youth is past and he must take up the responsility and reality of adulthood.
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.
He has come to the decision that, for good or ill, the choice he has made will be permanent and highly effecting of his life. He looks ahead to to time when he can look back and tell that the choice he made, whether wisely or unwisely, was the point at which his life's path was set.
What is the allegorical significance of the poem "The Road Not Taken"?
Have you ever made a decision, which may have been major or minor, about your life and the way that you want it to go, that has led you into a very different direction? It might have been choosing one college over another, or one Major over another Major, or choosing to try out for a sports team. I am sure you have. All of us in life have to make decisions that have a massive impact on the way that our future lives look, and if you think about it, who we are today and what we are doing and the kind of lives we lead are the result of lots of these separate decisions that we have made through our life.
However, have you ever found yourself wandering what your life would have been like if you had made a different decision on one of those junctures in life's journey? Where would you be now if you had gone to a different college, for example? It is this kind of wondering that concerns this excellent poem by Robert Frost.
Note how the poem presents us with a man walking in the woods and having to choose between two roads:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Although the speaker would like to be able to travel both roads, he is forced to make a decision and go down one. Both roads look "just as fair" as the other, yet he consoles himself with the idea that he will be able to go back and try the other road:
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Realistically, the way that life goes on to other choices and other decisions that have to be made, the speaker recognises that he will never be able to take the first path and see where it leads him. This realisation leads to the final stanza of the poem:
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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Thus the poems allegorical significance is clear. The "road" is the path of life that we are all on, and the forks in this road are the decisions that we have to make. However, the last stanza of this poem shows how the speaker is haunted by his choice and what could have happened if he had taken the other path, and where he would be now in his life. This is a very profound and haunting poem that makes us think too about our own decisions and how we could be living a very different life if we had taken "the road less travelled."
Explain the meaning of the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is one of the best known poems in American literature. This poem can be viewed literally and figuratively. Before interpreting the poem, it is important to recognize the title. This is not about the road that the poet took, but rather about the road that the speaker hoped that he would be able to travel on a later date.
The poem is written in four quatrains with five lines each. The rhyme scheme follows a definite pattern: ABAAB. The narration is first person point of view with an unknown narrator.
The tone of the poem involves a quandary. The speaker is unsure of what to do despite making a quick decision about which path to follow. Even at the end of the poem, there is no assurance that the right choice was made.
1st stanza,
Literal
The narrator is out in the woods in fall. He comes to a fork in the road. Wishing that he could go down both roads, he stands and looks down one of the paths as far as he can see. There is wooded undergrowth which deters him from seeing any farther.
Figurative
The narrator is facing a decision in his life. He has two choices. The problem could involve a marriage, a divorce, a career, the military, or an education. He has looked at all of the possibilities, but somethings cannot be foreseen.
2nd stanza
Literal
The speaker chooses the other road because he feels that it is just as good, possibly better than the other path. This path had not been traveled as much, having more grass and less wear. Actually, there was little difference between the two paths.
Then took the other as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear…
Figurative
The speaker makes a choice. His decision seems to be more selective. Fewer people may have made this decision. When he thinks about it, his choices seemed similar.
3rd stanza
Literal
On this morning, both of the roads seemed to have little travel on them. He decided that he would take one path: however, he hopes to come back at a different time to try the other road. Yet, time and money and life will probably prevent him from actually returning to the spot again.
Figurative
When the speaker makes the decision, he realizes that the choices were similar. He hopes that he will be able to try to the other choice at some time in the future. In actuality, it is doubtful that life will allow him to return and try the other choice.
4th stanza
Literal
Sometime in the future, the speaker will tell the story of the roads. He will do it with a little regret. He will tell the story of the two roads in the woods, and he took the one that appeared to be the least traveled. Because of this choice, his life had been completely altered.
Figurative
A long time in the future, the speaker will look back at the time when made the life altering decision. He will tell the story with a sigh or a little remorse. He faced a decision in his life. He chose a path and followed it. This choice made a huge difference in his life.
Remember the title: It is the road that he did not take that bothers the narrator. Although never stated, there is some negativity when he looks back at the choice he made. The poet subtly lets the reader know that more than once the narrator has reflected back on his judgment. This is a poem about “if.” What if---the speaker has never been sure that he made the right selection.
What was in the mind of the poet when he wrote the poem "The Road Not Taken"?
When asked if he would reveal the intended meanings in his poems, Robert Frost replied, "If I wanted you to know I'd had told you in the poem." So, no one really knows the hidden meaning of "The Road Not Taken."
One thing that is known about this poem by Frost is that he composed it shortly after returning home in the United States from his trip to England, where he accompanied his fellow poet and friend, Edward Thomas on walks. This friend would often take Frost with him on woodland strolls where Thomas would be very indecisive about which path to take. He would worry that, perhaps, he had chosen the wrong path as another might have had more fauna and flora.
At any rate, Edward was rather indecisive. So, he certainly fits the character of the poem's speaker who suffers in the second stanza as he deliberates over his decision to take the "other" path that was "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
Still, the power of poetry is that it speaks to the heart, and there are always various meanings that different people derive from poems. So, while Frost may have had some fun writing about this friend, he also may have intended for his readers to think of the metaphoric meaning of his poem as one about life's choices and their profound affect upon people. After all, in 1961 Frost did say that "The Road Not Taken" is “a tricky poem, very tricky.”
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