person walking through a forest

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

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What has worn the roads "about the same" in "The Road Not Taken"?

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In "The Road Not Taken," the roads are worn "about the same" by the footsteps of previous travelers, indicating that both paths have been equally traveled. The speaker's reflection on the roads shows they appear equally worn and covered in fresh leaves, suggesting no path is "less traveled." This implies the speaker's later claim of taking the road "less traveled" is a fabrication, potentially to add significance to his choice or to feel unique.

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The speaker, who has reached a fork in the road and must make a decision about which of the two roads in the fork to take next, says that

The passing there
Had worn them really about the same (lines 9–10).

This seems to mean that the roads look as though about the same number of people have taken each one. The same number of people have passed down each road, wearing the roads with their footsteps approximately the same amount. This detail, combined with the speaker's description of the second road as "just as fair" as the first and as equally covered in fresh leaves that morning, shows that the roads really have been traveled about the same number number of times and that there is no road "less traveled." This means that, in the final stanza, the speaker plans to lie: he says he took the road that...

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fewer people traveled when such a road does not exist. Why would he do this? Could it be because he wants to make himself feel unique and different? Could it be because he wants to feel like his choices were more meaningful and significant than they actually were? Perhaps he knows that this is the narrative that society wants to believe, so he changes the story to perpetuate this story.

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In Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," the speaker considers two roads and must choose one. As he's trying to decide, he looks at them and really thinks about it. The complete line is, "Though as for that the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same." While the speaker doesn't explicitly say what has worn the roads the same level, it can be understood that other people had walked down the roads before the speaker. The road he decides to take has really been walked on or worn by other walkers as much as the other. 

This is an important line because it suggests that other individuals much like the speaker have stood at that fork in the road and made the decision to choose one over the other. When the speaker says they were worn about the same, this means that either road would have been a fine choice. One was not better or worn more than the other. The larger point, then, if the road is a metaphor for choices, is that it's not always clear which choice is better than the other. Sometimes neither choice is--you just have to make one.

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