This poem involves decisions that we make in our lives.

Decisions
usually involve some amount of courage, not matter how small or large.
They require some courage because of the unknown variables in
decision making. This poem is all about decisions. The poem starts of
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” This quote is a metaphor for the
decisions in life. The two roads are the two choices we can make. The
choice is also a split in the road and leads to different futures. Just like
the roads lead to different destinations. Another quote that shows these
roads are decisions is as follows: “And looked down one as far as I
could.” Frost is saying that he is trying to look down to where the paths
lead. People do this in life too, they try to predict and figure out where
their decisions may lead them in the future. The last quote is at the very
end of the poem: “I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all
the difference.” In the end, Frost chooses the one less traveled on,
wanting wear. The road with less wear also represents the decision that
isn't as popular. The most popular "road" is the one taken more, with
more tear. Not going with the crowd would be the road with less wear.
This decision makes this poem a lot about courage. To go against the
flow takes a lot of courage. People not only question you, but often
times you question yourself. You may second guess your decision if
everyone else is going in a different way. It takes courage to not take the
road most others take.

“The Road Not Taken” is a poem by Robert Frost. It was published in The
Atlantic Monthly in August 1915. This poem was used as an opening poem of
Robert Frost’s collection Mountain Interval in 1916. It presents a narrator who
is recalling his journey through the forest when he had to choose between two
divergent roads. This poem is one of the most well-known and most often
misunderstood poems of Robert Frost.

FROST’S INSPIRATION FOR “THE ROAD

NOT TAKEN”
The inspiration of “The Road Not Taken” came when
Frost noticed a familiar habit of his close friend in
England, Edward Thomas. Frost used to frequently
take long walks with Thomas through the
countryside. Edward Thomas, an English-Welsh
poet, would always regret not taking the other path.
Thomas would always sigh over what they would
have seen if they had taken the other path. Thomas
would think that if they had chosen the other path, it
might have offered them many opportunities to see
and experience nature.
At such times of regret, Frost would always tell
Thomas that “It does not matter what road you take.
You will always regret and wish you had taken the
other one.” In this way, Frost wrote this poem to be a
light-hearted one but it turned to be more serious
and ambiguous for readers.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
There were different historically significant events going on in 1916.
Therefore, it is not possible to identify one specific meaning as the one that
the poet had in mind. When this poem was written, things of great importance
were occurring in the poet’s life and social order. Firstly, in 1916, an act of
Congress made “The National Park Services” to keep millions of acres of the
forest land safe for the enjoyment of future generations.

Secondly, Albert Einstein came up with his theory of relativity which claimed
that things are dependent on relative circumstances and not on absolute
knowledge. The end result of any choice that a person makes is not absolute.
This affected the thinking of people to a great extent. They started treating
events and feelings relative. The pleasing connection with nature and one’s
personal feelings regarding one’s future are the main subjects of this poem.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WORLD WAR I

The industrial revolution in the late 1800s brought advances in international
commerce through advances in travel and communication. It became difficult
for economic powers like the U.S. and Japan to stay uninvolved. The
American public wanted no involvement in World War I. It was a year after this
poem was published when America had to choose between joining the war.

When Frost and his family went home, England was already at war. The
central subject of “The Road Not Taken” reflects the position of the two
countries where Frost had lived. Britain joined other countries in the fight and
America tried to stay away from it. Each side has a good reason to choose
their path and face the consequences.

URBANIZATION
The relation between people and society is the central core of “The Road Not
Taken.” The poet asks the question of whether one must follow the footsteps
of the majority or the least traveled path. In 1916, this question was part of the
debate. Industrialization was the dominant social force in the last half of the
nineteenth-century.

As factories went up, people came to cities to get jobs. Immigrants from other
countries came for the same reason. The cities started to construct new
quarters for the coming families. These living quarters were made together on
top of one another. It created a frustrating situation for those people who
came from open lands.

By 1916, artists, philosophers, and other sensitive people started questioning

the depersonalizing effects of urbanization and industrialization. They were
worried about the situation that has changed the nature of human thinking.
People followed what the majority was doing and they lost connection with
themselves and nature as well. They couldn’t decide on their own and they
relied on others for prosperity. This poem raises the question regarding
individuality and independence.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN SUMMARY

The speaker of the poem walks through a forest where trees have shed their
yellow leaves in autumn. He reaches a junction where the road becomes two
diverging roads. The speaker is one person; therefore, he regrets that he
cannot travel both roads. He stands at the fork in the road for a long time. He
tries to see where one of the paths does go. The speaker cannot see very far
because the forest is dense. Also, the road is not straight.

The speaker then takes the other path. He judges the second path as good a
choice as the first one. He considers it a better option of the two since it is
grassy. The path chosen by the speaker is also less worn than the first path.
When the speaker starts walking on the second road, he thinks that the two
paths are more or less equally ragged.

The speaker recalls that both roads were covered with leaves in the morning.
These leaves had not been yet turned black by foot walks. He exclaims that
he is saving the first road and will travel it some other day. Immediately, the
speaker contradicts his statement with the recognition that in one’s life, one
road leads to another road. Therefore, it is unlikely to say that he will ever get
a chance to come back to the first road.

The speaker visualizes his distant future when he will be narrating, with a
sigh, the story of his choosing which road to travel. The speaker speaks as if
he is looking back from his future at the present choice. He says that he had
to choose between two roads, and he chose the one which was less traveled.
The speaker from the future says that the result of that selection between
roads has made all the differences in the speaker’s life.

THEMES IN THE POEM

FATE
The central theme of the poem appears when the speaker faces crossroads.
The first line of the poem says that “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” It
is a classic conceit for a life decision. The speaker then begins to consider the
two options. He tries to select a better choice. However, Frost’s poem claims
that our choices are less real than we think. Our power to perceive meaningful
differences among options is negligible—the two roads are “as just as fair.”

According to the poem, fate constantly guides us to take a step forward

despite our attempts to exercise free will. Our choices fall inferior to our fate
which decides all.
CHOICES AND UNCERTAINTY
In “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker describes himself as a confused
person who is facing a situation to choose between two roads. The speaker’s
choice acts as an extended metaphor for all the choices that every individual
must make in life. Through the speaker’s experience, the poem describes the
nature of choices and the situation when a person is forced to choose.

The speaker’s first emotion is “sorrow,” as he regrets the reality that it is

impossible to “travel both” roads or to experience both things. The poem
explores that every choice demands the loss of opportunity. Also, choices are
painful because they are made with incomplete information.

The speaker seeks to collect as much information as possible by observing

“down one (road) as far as I could.” However, there is a limit to what the
speaker can see and the rest of the things are out of his sight. The speaker
has not enough information about which one path is the right one. No one can
truly predict what each choice will bring. This poem reflects the anxiety that
everyone experiences whenever they step forward on a new road in life.

After making a final choice, one loses the opportunity to experience the things
that are not chosen. The choice of one thing cuts off the knowledge of the
alternate choice. It leaves one with uncertainty and they never know if they
had made the right choice.

The final line of the poem is a reminder that one’s choices in life make all the
difference. It is the choice that gives identity to a person.

INDIVIDUALISM AND NONCONFORMITY

In “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker has to choose between two roads. He
chooses the one which is less traveled. The choice between the two roads
can be treated as a conventional choice versus unconventional choice. By
selecting the less-traveled path, the speaker shows that he values
individualism over conformity

While deciding which road to take, the speaker notes that the second is “just
as fair” as the first. However, the less worn-out state of the road makes the
speaker choose it. Notably, the absence of signs of travel on the chosen path
is taken positively rather than negatively. Rather than saying that the road
looked as if it had not traveled much, the speaker states that it was “grassy”.
Being grassy shows it is the result of a very few people walking on it. The
speaker also says that the second road “wanted wear.”

It means that the road itself demanded to walk on it. In this way, the speaker
suggests that nonconformity is a positive trait. It also shows that popularity
makes things less attractive.

Despite the speaker’s suggestion for nonconformity, the poem remains

ambiguous about whether the grassy road will lead to something better. In this
way, firstly, the poem states that it is hard to identify what is non-conformist.
After choosing the road, the two roads seem about the same. It confuses the
speaker more that he does not know if the road was less traveled. The
speaker seems to sense that though he or she has attempted to take the road
“less traveled,” there’s no actual way to know if it was less traveled.

Secondly, the poem subtly suggests that no guarantee choosing a less

walked path will make a positive difference. There is also a third opinion
offered by the poem as well. The speaker says that selecting the path made
all the differences. It is not the path that makes the difference because no one
can truly measure which path is traveled less. The difference is made by
choosing a direction that is not conventional. In this way, the poem teaches
that it is one’s effort that matters.

MAKING MEANING
This poem suggests that it is less important to think if the speaker’s choice
made all the difference from what he believes that it did. People create a
fictional version of their lives by making beliefs and meaning when they are
not there. However, this poem does not consider meaning-making as deceitful
but rather as a part of human life.

INDECISION
Another theme in this poem is indecision. In reality, the speaker of the poem
has to choose to travel one road between the two. However, he overthinks
and procrastinates. He tries to look for all the experiences he has to face on
each road. At last, he decides to take the one that was grassy and less
traveled. After making the decision, the speaker still concerns his future and
the consequences of his choice. If it was one road, it would be easier for him
to travel immediately. Similarly, people face such a situation in their lives, and
therefore, they confront indecisiveness.
SELF-BELIEF
The speaker in the poem decides to choose the road himself. He does not rely
on someone else to direct him. The speaker seems to have confidence in
himself. Therefore, he puts himself responsible for all the consequences in the
future regarding his choice in the present.

This poem suggests that one should have faith in one’s self. Such quality of
independent decision- making helps people learn many things. They start
valuing their intuition. They build confidence in explaining their decision. In this
way, trust in one’s self develops.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN LITERARY

ANALYSIS
“The Road Not Taken” is a poem about the struggles of the speaker to decide
which one of the two roads he must choose. It has both literal and
metaphorical meanings. The two roads symbolize two directions in life to
follow. This poem highlights those moments in life when it is necessary to take
a firm decision without enough information.

This poem questions a person’s free will and determinism. The speaker in the
poem consciously decides which way he has to go. He rejects the path with
the bend in it. Also, external factors play an important role in his decision-
making process.

This poem is about the sacrifices that one has to make. To make a difference,
a person has to prefer one option over another and belief in him.

LINES 1-5
The poet travels on foot in the woods. He reaches a junction where two roads
diverged. Suddenly, he realizes that as a single traveler, he can’t travel both
roads. Here, two roads are used as a metaphor for two ways of life. The forest
is yellow, which means that it is autumn and the trees are shedding their
yellow leaves.

As the speaker can’t travel both the roads, he stands there to try to select
which path he is going to travel to. However, the poet wants to go down both
roads. He is thinking about it hard. He is looking down one road. He tries to
see where it goes. The thickness of the woods blocks the view of the speaker.
Also, the road is bent in shape and not linear.

LINES 6-10
The phrase “as just as it is fair” means righteous and equal. This phrase is an
example of a simile. The speaker decides to examine the other path because
he finds the other road to be less traveled and full of grass

“Wanted wear” is an example of personification. The speaker has personified

the grassy road and says that it wanted people to walk on it.

After traveling through the road, the speaker explores that both the roads are
equally traveled. At first, the speaker finds the first road to be the more
traveled one. Then, he says that both the roads seem equally traveled. The
phrase ‘as for that” refers to the road being less worn.

LINES 11-15
Here, the speaker finds that both the paths are looking the same in the
morning. After this, he goes in the flashback. It was a tough decision for him to
choose the real road because, in the morning, he was the first person who
walked on the road. There were no other footsteps. For this reason, he
couldn’t decide the right path immediately as no step had left marks on the
leaves on the roads to show him the right road. In these lines, the speaker has
used imagery.

The poet exclaims that he saves the first passage for another time. He knows
that “way leads” to another, and then another. He knows that in this way, one
ends up very far from where one has started the journey. The poet here saves
the first road for another day. Additionally, the speaker doesn’t think he will
ever be able to come back and take the other path to experience it.

LINES 16-20
This stanza shows the speaker’s failure in choosing the right path. The word
‘sigh’ suggests that he will be disappointed with the decision. He accepts that
he will be responsible if he fails in taking the right decision. “Ages and ages” is
an example of alliteration.
The poet took the road that no one else did and it made the difference in his
life that made him unique. One’s individualism matters. Nevertheless, a
“difference” may mean success or complete failure.

MOOD AND TONE

It is important to understand the difference between tone and mood. The tone
of the poem is how the author of the work feels about it. One can identify it by
examining the diction of the work. The diction of the poem is descriptive.

By using words like “diverged,” “sorry,” and “sigh,” the tone of the poem is
about longing and meditation. This poem is reflective and thoughtful. The
speaker is confused between two options. It is a turning point in the life of the
speaker. He has to choose one path and leave behind the other forever.

The speaker is thinking about the pros and cons of the situation. The decision
needs a serious approach to consider the outcomes of each choice.

The mood of the poem is related to the readers and their feelings about the
poem. In this way, the mood of the poem is somber and anxious in the
beginning but hopeful at the end.

NARRATIVE POEM
“The Road Not Taken” is a narrative poem. It has a character, setting, plot,
and conflict. The conflict in the poem is the indecisiveness of the persona of
the poem.

POINT OF VIEW
“The Road Not Taken” is narrated from the first-person point of view. The
speaker describes his experience by representing himself as “l.” It enables
readers to understand the speaker’s feelings and thoughts.

STYLE, STRUCTURE, AND RHYME

“The Road Not Taken” consists of four stanzas. Each stanza comprises five
lines. The rhyme is strict with the rhyming scheme ABAAB, except for the last
line. It is written in iambic tetrameter.

SETTING
The setting of the poem is “yellow woods.” It is a place where one road is
divided into two. The yellow color depicts the autumn season. The road is in a
deserted place because there are no other travelers. The speaker standing at
the junction sees that one road is gassier than the other.

SPEAKER
The speaker of this poem has no name and identity. There is no depiction of
the physical appearance of the speaker. It represents the whole of human
nature. Human nature wants life to have meaning and purpose. The speaker
of the poem is a traveler who comes up with an important decision to make.

SYMBOLS
The crossroads symbolize the journey of life. It also signifies the destination.
People come across decision- making moments that contain equally balanced
alternatives. One has to consider the advantages and disadvantages before
making a choice.

LITERARY DEVICES IN THE POEM

ALLITERATION
Alliteration is the repetition of similar consonant
sounds in a series of words at a stressed syllable.
In the second stanza, the sound /w/ is repeated
in “wanted wear.” Similarly, the sound /f/ is
repeated in “first for” in the third stanza.
ASSONANCE
It is the repetition of identical vowel sounds in
successive words. In this poem, assonance
contributes to establish the rhyme of the poem
and make it easily readable. “Looked down
one as far as I could,” “as just as fair,” “it was
grassy and wanted wear,” and “ages and ages”
are all examples of assonance.
CONNOTATION
Connotation means the secondary
meaning of the word. The primary
meaning of “The Road” is a path that a
person travels. Its secondary meaning is
of “choice.” The presence of two
paths/two choices gives the feeling of
indecision to the speaker.
CONSONANCE
It is the repetition of consonant sounds at
the start, middle or end of the words.
“Yellow woods,” “to where it bent,”
“then took the other,” “wanted wear,”
and “knowing how way leads on to way”
are all the examples of consonance.
METAPHOR
This whole poem is an extended
metaphor. The two roads act as a
metaphor for two choices in life. The
thinking of the speaker about the
selection of one road is also a metaphor
used for thinking before taking a
decision.
The yellow color of the woods is also a
metaphor. It is compared with the
moment when a person has to choose the
downfall of his life or when he is getting
old.
PERSONIFICATION
Personification means to attribute
human qualities to nonhuman things.
Personification occurs in the second
stanza when the speaker says that
the road was grassy and “wanted
wear.” By saying that the road has a “better claim,” the
speaker states that the road intends to attract travelers.
IMAGERY
For most of the poem, the speaker is describing
the setting. Visual imagery is used because
the speaker is sketching the scenery. He
says that the road is yellow which creates a
mental image of trees shedding leaves in
autumn. The worn-out state of the road also
contributes to the meaning of the poem.
There is auditory imagery as well by using
the word “sigh.”
IRONY
The irony in the poem is in the idea of
multiple significance of the road. They are
not simple roads because they have a
secondary meaning as well. The speaker of
the poem has to take the road of the
majority or the road with fewer travelers.
The eventual choice of the speaker is also
ironic. Both the roads are equally worn out
but the speaker still chooses the second.