Explication: The Road Not Taken

"The Road Not Taken" is a poem written by Robert Frost. In his poem Frost describes a traveler's choice between two roads and how this choice effects his life later.

In the first stanza the poet gives the reader the image of 2 paths in the woods. This represents a choice. The poet has a tone of sorrow when he writes "...and sorry I could not travel both..." the poet describes the character in the poem as one traveler, suggesting that he is alone. The poet describes looking down the path and being unable to see the end, "...looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth..." I think this means that the character has to make a choice even though he doesn't know what lay ahead.

In the second stanza the poet describes taking the other road because it was grassy and wanted wear, this means that the road chosen was thought to be the road less traveled. Frost then goes on to write "...the passing there had worn them really about the same..." When the poet writes this I think he means that even though one may think one choice is made less often then another, in reality it is probably about the same.

In the third stanza the poet describes how he thought the path was the one less chosen but it was hard to tell because both paths where covered in leaves not yet tamped. Frost then goes on to write, in a regretful tone, that he had hoped to save the other path for another day. He then writes "...Yet knowing how way leads onto way, I doubted if I shall ever come back..." this means one should understand that one needs to make choices carefully because one will never get the same opportunity back again.

In the fourth stanza Frost writes of telling the story of his choice in a different time, in a reminiscent tone, he writes "...I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence..." then he recalls the story of two roads and ends the poem by writing "...I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference..." this means that in the end it was discovered that the choice he made was less chosen and that has made a variance in his life.

All the stanzas in "The Road Not Taken" meter of 4 feet and a rhyming the rhyming scheme: A, B, A, A, B.

"The Road Not Taken" is a poem written by Robert frost concerning life's choices. In this poem Frost is trying to show the reader that no matter what path we walk upon, or the choice we make, it will effect our life in the long run.