Essay, Research Paper: The Road Not Taken

Roads

"Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where there is no
path and leave a trail." -Robert Frost

Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map
of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that
leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of
the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his
poem, "The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different
interpretations. It is one's past, present and the attitude with which
he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light that
he will see the poem in. In any case however, this poem clearly
demonstrates Frost's belief that it is the road that one chooses that
makes him the man who he is.

"And sorry I could not travel both..." It is always difficult to
make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the
opportunity cost, what will be missed out on. There is a strong sense
of regret before the choice is even made and it lies in the knowledge
that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down every path. In
an attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as
I could". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does
any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to see as far the
road stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never
see where it is going to lead. It is the way that he chooses here that
sets him off on his journey and decides where he is going.

"Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the better
claim." What made it have the better claim is that "it was grassy
and wanted wear." It was something that was obviously not for everyone
because it seemed that the majority of people took the other path
therefore he calls it "the road less travelled by". The fact that the
traveler took this path over the more popular, secure one indicates
the type of personality he has, one that does not want to necessarily
follow the crowd but do more of what has never been done, what is new
and different.

"And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden
black." The leaves had covered the ground and since the time they had
fallen no one had yet to pass by on this road. Perhaps Frost does this
because each time a person comes to the point where they have to make
a choice, it is new to them, somewhere they have never been and they
tend to feel as though no one else had ever been there either. "I kept
the first for another day!" The desire to travel down both paths is
expressed and is not unusual, but "knowing how way leads on to way",
the speaker of this poem realizes that the decision is not just a
temporary one and he "doubted if I should ever come back." This is his
common sense speaking and acknowledging that what he chooses now will
affect every other choice he makes afterward. Once you have performed
an act or spoken a word that crystalizes who you are, there is no
turning back, it cannot be undone.

Once again at the end of the poem the regret hangs over the
traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. He realizes that at the
end of his life, "somewhere ages and ages hence", he will have regrets
about having never gone back and traveling down the roads he did not
take. Yet he remains proud of his decision and he recognizes that it
was this path that he chose that made him turn out the way and he did
and live his life the way in which he lived. "I took the road less
traveled by and that had made all the difference." To this man, what
was most important, what really made the difference, is that he did
what he wanted, even if it meant taking the road less traveled. If he
hadn't, he wouldn't be the same man he is now.

There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and Robert
Frost may have intended this. He may have been trying to achieve a
universal understanding. In other words, there is no judgement, no
specificity, no moral. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision
in his life that had changed the direction of his life from what it
may have otherwise been. It allows all readers from all different
experiences to relate to the poem.

The Road not Taken
by Robert Frost - 1916

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.