"The Road Not Taken" Explication

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.



The Road Not Taken, a poem by the great writer Robert Frost, is a fascinating study of the great depth that can be found in simple, compact writing. Both a joy to read and a wonderful excercise to understand, it draws the reader into the dilema that is at the center of the narrative. The Road Not Taken is told from the viewpoint of an unnamed man, perhaps a random traveller or perhaps Frost himself, though the person it is addressed to is not made clear. It could be for other travellers, other poets, or just anyone faced with a choice.

Choice is truly what this poem is about. The Road Not Taken, as the title suggests quite well, describes the speaker's remeniscence of a time when he was faced with a great choice. He recalls that while wandering through a wood during his travels, he came to a fork in the road, with two separate paths leading in opposite directions. This obviously provoked great contemplation on his part, though he was eventually forced to make a choice on just one. However, it is also clear that the wonderment of what lay at the end of the other path has since followed him on his travels. But while it may seem that this poem merely reflects the author's choice, I think there is a deeper theme here. The writer is actually addressing the struggles that face everyone when met with a choice that they must make in which only one of the options can be taken. It is about decisions, and the contemplation that follows, the wonder of how things might have turned out differently.

The poem itself is both pleasing to the eyes and ears. Its four stanzas of five lines each, with their A-B-A-A-B rhyme scheme, add an air of fanciful thought to a deep-toned piece. The way it is written is also quite charming. Though obviously very contemplative, it also has a fond rememberance in its tone, making it seem not quite so sad. Descriptive language abounds, as the author writes vividly about the appearances of the two separate paths and the wood itself. He describes everything, from the height of the grass to the color of the leaves around him, painting a detailed picture of his surroundings. The words are musical and profound without being overly-scholarly, making it an easy poem to follow as well. This made it a true pleasure to read and ponder, as one could focus more on the meaning of the overall poem than on deciphering archaic phrases and vocabulary.

This poem is included because it holds a lesson for me. Life often brings choices, some harder than others. Every choice has an impact, be it good or bad. There is no choice that does not have a consequence. But we must be content with the choices we make, and not look back too much on the decisions already settled on, lest we fail to look to the future.