The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost’s famous poem, The Road Not Taken, contains hidden messages that contribute to the reader’s everyday life. The poem revolves around the topic of choice, and the permanent effects that decisions have on human life. Human beings are exposed to life-changing decisions every day, and are forced to make a choices while being unaware of the outcome. The Road Not Taken suggests that every decision made in life will always have an impact on a person’s future, no matter how simple it may seem. The first two stanzas discuss the very common situation of coming to a crossroad and not knowing which way to travel:
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler, long I stood / And looked down …show more content…
He peered down the first road and described it as being bent in undergrowth, which can symbolize the unknown. He then peered down the second road, only to find it fairly similar to the first. He could only see past a certain point and took the road he thought was better, but after travelling it he realized that it was as equally travelled as the other. These stanzas represent the different choices presented to people throughout their lives. The two roads represent the available options leading to separate outcomes. Although some options appear better than others, people never actually know what the results are until they choose …show more content…
He’s describing how the paths equally lay with few leaves trodden black, meaning that neither path was well traveled. He mentions keeping one for another day, but that line seems almost sarcastic because he then goes on about never returning. “He’s practically lying to himself that he’s not giving up an opportunity, but rather just saving it for another time, even though he really knows that time may never come” (Baroncini-Moe). The most important message to get out of dissecting these stanzas is how they describe people rewriting their own histories, in a way. Later on in life, humans share stories and revise their memories to make decisions seem different than they actually were. Frost mentions telling this story of his past many years later, and that he claims choosing the “road less traveled” has “made all the difference” in his life. But, the readers know from the first two stanzas that choosing this road didn’t make all the difference because both roads were equally the
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler, long I stood / And looked down …show more content…
He peered down the first road and described it as being bent in undergrowth, which can symbolize the unknown. He then peered down the second road, only to find it fairly similar to the first. He could only see past a certain point and took the road he thought was better, but after travelling it he realized that it was as equally travelled as the other. These stanzas represent the different choices presented to people throughout their lives. The two roads represent the available options leading to separate outcomes. Although some options appear better than others, people never actually know what the results are until they choose …show more content…
He’s describing how the paths equally lay with few leaves trodden black, meaning that neither path was well traveled. He mentions keeping one for another day, but that line seems almost sarcastic because he then goes on about never returning. “He’s practically lying to himself that he’s not giving up an opportunity, but rather just saving it for another time, even though he really knows that time may never come” (Baroncini-Moe). The most important message to get out of dissecting these stanzas is how they describe people rewriting their own histories, in a way. Later on in life, humans share stories and revise their memories to make decisions seem different than they actually were. Frost mentions telling this story of his past many years later, and that he claims choosing the “road less traveled” has “made all the difference” in his life. But, the readers know from the first two stanzas that choosing this road didn’t make all the difference because both roads were equally the