Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is a symbolic poem of the complications people must face in the course of their lives. Although it is not difficult to understand the meaning of the poem through it’s title, it is however hard to interpret what the author means when he describes the roads. Throughout the poem, the two roads appear similar at times and different at others. He uses free imagery to make his poem more complex for the audience.

In the first stanza, Frost attempts to do many things: he illustrates the setting; he describes the roads; and he explains the significance of the roads. The setting of the poem is drawn in a yellow wood, which suggests that it is autumn. In the following line, “And I’m 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 narrator shows his regret that he could only take one (Frost,HO). This demonstrates to the reader that the roads are of great importance, and because he can only travel one it will leave him forever wondering about what it would be like if he had took the other. The narrator spent a lot of time choosing which path to take.

After he studied the first road cautiously, he examined the second one. At first he is more attracted to the second road because “it was grassy and wanted wear” which meant that it was less traveled by (Frost,HO). To say that the path “wanted wear” is a personification (Frost,HO). It gives the road the human characteristic of wanting. After evaluating both roads, he decides that they are equal. He then states that they are really worn about the same. This gives the reader something to think about. If the two roads were utter...

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... one he did.

Frost gives just enough details in his writing to provide the viewers with a clear picture but allows them the freedom to create their own interpretations. One of the main things that make this poem attractive is the dilemma of picking a path. People immediately relate to that dilemma because most people face it numerous times throughout their lives. The Paths in the woods and forks in roads are metaphors for the many problems and decisions that fill one’s life. This poem says that we are free to choose, but we do not really know what we are choosing between. It does not say to take the path less traveled by nor take the path that is more traveled. The speaker knows that he will either second guess the decision somewhere down the line or wonder what was down the other path. In reality there is no right path, only the chosen path and the other path.