Friday, January 20, 2012

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

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.

I selected The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost because of the complexity and depth of the poem. At first glance, it would appear as if when the narrator appeared in front of a fork in the road, he walked the road less traveled. Upon further analyzing the poem, it appears the two roads were equally untraveled and although he had told himself he would come back another day and travel the other road, he knew he wouldn’t. Therefore, he told himself he took the road less traveled by, but he knew that was not true. The common misconception about this poem made it intriguing to opt and analyze. 

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