Road Not Taken

Brooke Chubinsky
Professor Crystal Nelson
English 2010
1 March 2017
The Interpretation Not Taken Poetry, by virtue of its figurative nature, is quite often misunderstood. However, there is no such poem more misinterpreted than Robert Frost’s 1916 work, “The Road Not Taken.” Generations of students, scholars and other readers of poetry are quick to take this poem at face value, placing superficial judgment without employing some of the most important devices available to the careful reader - reading between the lines and embracing ambiguity. If anyone on the street were to respond to questioning regarding his or her interpretation of this familiar poem, the answer would most likely have something to do with the idea of the impact one notable
choice can have on the trajectory of life. In the same fashion, Frost’s poem is constantly quoted about in order to emit a trite sense of carpe diem. In spite of this, a truly effectual analysis of this renowned poem must take into account its paradox. Robert Frost uses a deliberate structure, a contemplative and reflective tone of the first person speaker, and an extended metaphor in order to illustrate how a person will come to view the discussions he or she made in the past that got that person to where he or she is in the present. The specific structure of “The Road Not Taken” allows for the examination of the two roads as equal, without one road, at the time of approaching, actually appearing to be a more suitable choice for the speaker.
The first and last lines of the individual stanzas emphasize how the speaker observes the roads, with neither being of any particular distinction. The first line of this poem, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” introduces the setting, and notes only that the roads diverge, not that they lead to any particular path that would denote superiority of one or the other (Frost 1). In the second stanza, Frost exemplifies how the speaker is, in reality, looking at both of the roads in the same way, and does not see one as being finer than the other; he or she “Then took the other, as just as fair” (6). After a thorough inspection of these two roads, the speaker notes that “The passing there / Had worn them really about the same” (Frost 10). This denotes that the speaker is, at the time, aware that either of these two roads could reasonably be chosen. At the time of passing, the speaker does not believe he or she is faced with a choice between two roads, one difficult and the other easier, as many would suggest. Rather, the roads “both that morning equally lay,” with both appearing similar, force the speaker into simply having to pick one in order to continue forward (Frost
11). The idea of reminiscence and of regret, or lack thereof, is accentuated in “The Road Not Taken” by the questioning, contemplative tone of the speaker.
Upon reaching the roads, the speaker states, “long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could,” demonstrating this person really did look into the options presented, wondering about the implications of each choice (Frost 3-4). In the third stanza, the speaker does discuss saving the other road for another day, all yet knowing that he or she will most likely never return to take it, anyway. This statement shows that the importance of the choice exists not in the supposed “road not taken,” but rather, the concept that neither of the roads is actually less taken, but that this view will only be considered in the future once prompted about the consequences of this choice. This is further asserted in the last stanza, as the speaker admits “I will be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence,” noting that while the roads appear equal upon reflection, he or she will go on to claim that choosing one over the other will become more profound from a future vantage point (Frost 16-17). The “sigh” of the speaker should be neither interpreted as an indicator of regret nor of relief. Rather, this“sigh” in the last stanza demonstrates almost a sense of sarcasm and conveys an ironic quality. This irony is created by the concept that the speaker is going to fabricate the tangible facts of these two roads into a tale
which typifies the uniqueness of this assumed “momentous” moment in this person’s life. While Frost spends the first three stanzas asserting how these roads were not remarkably contrasting, he uses the last stanza to discuss how the story will be that the speaker “took the road less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference” (19-20). Frost quite literally tells the reader that the roads are the same, but that the future self of the speaker will retell the story in slightly skewed manner. Therefore, there really is no regret occurring, as the speaker may suggest; “sorry I could not travel both” (Frost 2). In fact, Frost is actually hinting that a person having taken any road might feel “sorry” that the other could not be taken, as well. Rather, the speaker is content in his or her decision, knowing that someday, the story will portray that the apparently sensible “road less traveled” eventually led to something great.
With the roads as representations of possible paths in life, Frost is not declaring the impact of life’s decisions, but rather, human nature’s tendency to believe that choices made are purposeful and life-changing. In reality, it is impossible to justify taking one path at the time over another, as Frost lays out in the first stanza by noting that the speaker looked “To where is [the road] bent in the undergrowth” (5). This statement illustrates that one cannot see ahead to what the road really leads to, as one can only see what is readily visible. If this poem were really claiming, as many before have stated, that taking the