The Road Not Taken Literary Analysis

The poem “The Road Not Taken” describes the narrator coming to a fork in the road and having to decide which way to go. The narrator regrets that he or she can’t travel both ways and comes to the realization that a choice must be made. A decision is made to take the road less traveled because “it was grassy and wanted wear;” but observes that “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same,” (“Road” 8-10). In reality, both ways were equally worn, but the narrator thought that one was less traveled. This suggests that the decision to take the grassy path was influenced entirely by the narrator’s inner qualities. Because the narrator wanted to preserve or develop these aspects of his or her life, they chose the path that they could relate
to rather than follow everybody else. This decision further shaped the narrator’s path through life and will subsequently influence any future choices they make.
The poems “Fire and Ice” and “The Road Not Taken” seem similar, but both have aspects...