FREE ESSAY ON THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

The Road Not Taken in the Choices of Life
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. (Frost 1-5)
On the surface, Robert Frost's poem is a story about a walk on a wooded road, but it had
deeper meaning to him and how he feels about the road. Also, the poem has a universal
meaning about life and the choices it presents. Further, the poem is magnificently
written in Frost's own created rhyme style. Lastly, a sigh might just be a sigh to some,
but in this piece it means much more to Frost. Frost's 1916 poem The Road Not Taken is an
example of how Frost writes poetry enthralling the reader with a grand opening and an
unexpected ending that must be thoroughly analyzed. 
Frost wrote The Road Not Taken while living in Gloucestershire, England in 1914 though he
was an American citizen. His friend Edward Thomas and he would often go on walks so that
Thomas could show him special plants or sights. When Thomas would choose a path, it was
certain that every time he would regret the choice he had made sighing that they should
have taken a better direction (Banerjee and Shefali 1). When Frost wrote this he
supposedly pretended to carry himself as Thomas just long enough to write the poem.
Furthermore, Frost first wrote the poem as almost a joke for Thomas. Later it held more
value for him though, as an example of life choices. 
The Road Not Taken is literally a story about a walk on a road one fall morning. The
title even tells of the idea that a choice has been made before reading the poem. The
opening line tells how the road broke into a y. This simple y in the road alludes also to
Frost's first line of the poem and his choice of yellow (y) to describe the fall trees.
This is a simple natural symbol but, when looked into further, shows how he is looking to
the winter, the future, which is a harsh season. Frost talks about the two roads and how
they are the same, comparing them. Road A twists beneath the undergrowth, which alludes
to a hard trail ahead. Countless obstacles are on this walk that may catch the narrator.
Road B is straight, grassy, open, and sunny, showing that the walk will be nice and easy.
No one else is on the road with the narrator. He is alone, contemplating the decision by
himself. The ultimate decision that is going to be made by the narrator as to which
equally worn road to take with no help from anyone. He knows that the road he takes will
lead him forever, foreshadowing that the choice he does makes could be a regret or
satisfaction. Frost then said in the present tense last stanza that the narrator's choice
was the one less traveled by (20). This simple statement has significant importance, for
he contradicts himself. Frost was unable to tell if anyone had walked the roads; yet the
one less traveled was chosen, when in actuality it is the one more traveled by because
the narrator traveled it. 
The road in the poem is not just a road; it is a symbol of choices in our lives. Frost
implies that the narrator is sorry that he could not take both roads and see two
different outcomes before the decision is made. The outcomes can not be seen, though
looking as far as he could, the road would either bend and disappear into the undergrowth
or go until the eye could see no further. He says to himself three times in the poem that
both roads are equal, but in the final outcome he chooses the one less traveled, wanting
wear (Frost 8). The narrator saying this to himself three times definitely gives the
impression that he has time and is in no hurry to make a decision since only one road may
be taken, one decision made, and one final destiny for a lifetime. No one will make the
exact same decision again. The narrator could live to regret that he did or did not take
another path. Also, his decision may be satisfying to him, not looking back at what may
have been but instead of what is here, what he is living for right now and the future
that he has just planned for himself.
The Road Not Taken is masterfully written not just with a tell all title, forceful
opening words, and an ironic final stanza but also with rhyme scheme. Frost wrote it in
abaab meaning that the last word in the first, third, and fourth lines rhyme. Also, the
last word of the second and fifth lines of the poem rhyme. The meter is tetrameter,
meaning that there are four beats in a line (Banerjee and Shefali). Frost always used
some rhyme scheme or meter in his poems often joking that writing free verse is like
playing tennis with the net down, (qtd. in O'Donnell). Using rhymes almost give the poem
a sing-song effect that makes it flow together easier, coming together as a whole.
In the last stanza Frost says, I shall be telling this with a sigh, implying that the
path was chosen, and he hopes that the decision was the correct one. This common sigh
could be of regret, how he wished that he would have taken the other. Likewise it could
have been satisfaction, like a good sigh after the hard work of decision making. However,
the sigh can also be taken in another light. The sigh could be just on the surface, for
those who just looked at the poem. Looked at from that perspective, the sigh could just
be of the narrator giving up, choosing the road in need of wear. Also, the sigh to more
in-depth readers, could be TOWARDS the reader implying just as those who might think the
narrator would live to be sorry for the choice he had taken on the road, in life. He will
not regret the choice he has made, though because he knows that he will never again come
across the break in the road. In choosing this road, he has sealed his fate for ages and
ages in the future as he reminisces upon this decision.
In conclusion, The Road Not Taken is another example of Robert Frost's amazing ability as
a writer to captivate his audience from the very beginning to the very end of his poems.
Frost starts with a simple y in the road accented with the yellow woods surrounding it
and the narrator. We conclude that Frost wrote this as almost a jest for would often when
taking a walk people sigh saying they wished that they had chosen a different route. This
is not just an ordinary sigh to Frost though; there is more underneath it, much more
meaning than just a breath. Also, he concludes with a masterful ending about the choice
upon which the narrator has decided. The poem is a stellar example of how life choices
are made alone with only nature as a guide. The poem also an insight into the narrator's
thought process about which path he wishes to choose, forever. Furthermore Frost ties the
whole masterpiece together with tetrameter meter and an abaab pattern in each of the four
stanzas. As William G. O'Donnell said of Robert Frost, Although one person's
interpretation may be superior to another's, sooner or later you have no choice but to
venture out on your own and decide what, if anything, a particular poem is all about. So,
please go and read The Road Not Taken and discover the meaning of the poem for yourself,
as or risk not discovering it at all.
Bibliography
Works Cited
O'Donnell, William G. Talking About Poems With Robert Frost. Massachusetts Review. Summer
98, 39:2. Ebscohost. Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA. 12 Feb. 2001 . 
Banerjee, Anando and Shefali Tripathi, Robert Frost's Lesser Known Poems. 27 Aug. 2000 .
Frost, Robert. The Road Not Taken. An Introduction to Literature. 11th ed. Ed. Slyvan
Barnet, et al. New York: Longman, 1997. 750.