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'The road not taken' summary
B.A English Language and Literature
Mahatma Gandhi University
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The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost (187 4 - 1963 )
Background information:
Robert Frost was an American poet. When he was young, Frost lived on a farm in New England. It was there that he wrote some of his famous works. Frost's poems reflect a deep appreciation of nature. The simplicity of his images (taken from everyday life) and his language (which reflects the rhythms and vocabulary of ordinary speech) make his poems accessible, while leading the reader to understand deeper truths. Robert Frost spent many years in New England and was influenced by the beautiful natural surroundings. The poem is set in the autumn woods and describes the yellow leaves of the trees and the dense undergrowth. This is the type of countryside that Frost would have been familiar with.
Line by line... step by step
Stanza 1
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
Our speaker is describing a fork in the road. The woods are yellow, which means that it's probably fall and the leaves are turning colors. "Diverged" is just another word for split. There's a fork in the road.
And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood
The speaker wants to go down both roads at once, but since it's impossible to walk down two roads at once, he has to choose one road. The speaker is "sorry" he can't travel both roads, suggesting regret. Because of the impossibility of traveling both roads, the speaker stands there for a long time, trying to choose which path he's going to take.
And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;
The speaker is thinking hard about his choice. He's staring down one road, trying to see where it goes. But he can only see up to the first bend, where the undergrowth, the small plants of the woods, blocks his view.
Stanza 2
Then took the other, as just as fair,
So after all this buildup about one road, which he's looked down for a long time, the speaker takes the other path which is just as pretty. So he was choosing between two roads, or futures, that were different but potentially equally good.
And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
The speaker still seems pretty uncertain when he explains that this second path is better. It is only "perhaps" better. Then the speaker tells us why the path is better – it seems like it hasn't been walked on very much, because it's grassy and doesn't look worn. "Wanted," in this instance, means "lacked."
Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,
The speaker of this poem really can't seem to make up his mind! Just when we think we've got a declaration about which path is better, he changes his mind and admits that maybe they were equal after all. The "as for that" refers to the path being less worn. "The passing there" refers to other travelers that may have worn the paths down.
Stanza 3
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.
The paths are equally covered with leaves, which haven't been turned black by steps crushing them because it's still early in the morning.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
The speaker seems like he's already regretting his decision. He is rationalizing his choice of path by saying he'll come back to the one he missed sometime later.
Then, we get the hesitation of "and I" and the dash. This lets us know that whatever the speaker is about to say next is important.
I took the one less traveled by,
In this line, the speaker sums up his story and tells us that he took the road less traveled by. With the hesitation in the line before, this declaration could be triumphant – or regretful.
And that has made all the difference.
At first glance it seems that this line is triumphant – the narrator took the path that no one else did, and that is what has made the difference in his life that made him successful. But he doesn't say that it made him successful – an optimistic reader wants the line to be read positively, but it could be read either way. A "difference" could either mean success, or utter failure. The speaker of this poem could be saying that his choice made all the difference while he's surrounded by his grandchildren, by a fire in a cozy little house. Or he could be saying it to the wind, while walking alone on the streets. At this point, he doesn't know – and neither do we.
Analysis and Interpretation
In the poem the speaker stands at a fork in the road and is faced with the dilemma of which road to choose. He knows that he can't choose both ways, he has to make a decision to travel one of them. He reacts to his dilemma by looking at the options and then trying to assess the pros and cons of each road. The speaker considers various factors in solving his dilemma. First, he looks down one road as far as he can until it bends in the undergrowth. He cannot see after the bend, so he chooses the other road. Second, he considers how worn the road is and chooses the one that fewer people have walked on. This path looks to him "less traveled by" because it appears "grassy" -less trodden on and less used by people.
Frost uses the roads as a symbol of life. The speaker tries to see where the roads in life will lead. He looks down one road until it "bends in the undergrowth" and he cannot see any further. Similarly, it is difficult for us to see what will happen in the future. We can only see the immediate future and then our vision becomes obscured
by the unknown. The speaker finally chooses the other road, justifying his choice by saying that it "was grassy and wanted wear". He chooses it because fewer people have walked that way and we infer that he sees it as the less conventional and thus more adventurous choice. However, he knows that both roads are equally inviting. He tries to console himself with the thought that he will return and take the "other" road, but he knows that "way leads on to way" and people can never return to the same point again. In the final stanza the speaker projects himself into the future and contemplates the consequences of his decision. There are several interpretations of this stanza. The speaker's sigh might be one of relief and satisfaction with his decision, which has made "all the difference" in his life. However, it could also be one of regret that things didn't work out as he had hoped. However, whether he feels satisfied or dissatisfied with his choice in the future, his sigh is one of regret that he will never know what he missed if he had chosen the other option. He would like to come back and try the other road, but "since way leads on to way", he doubts that will ever happen. He feels regret that he has to make a decision without knowing the full implications of both options and therefore never knowing what he missed on the other path. The theme of the poem is that choices are inevitable and the human tendency is to wonder "what might have been if ...?" The speaker finally chose the other road (not the one he looked down) because it was <grassy and wanted wear=. This choice reveals something important about the speaker’s personality. <Grassy= is associated with green – new, fresh, wild, untamed, original, inexperienced. Therefore, we may assume that the speaker is an adventurer, a non-conformist. He doesn’t back down from difficulty. It would have been easier to go the way others had gone. The repetition of the lines <two roads diverged...= gives us the feeling of coming full circle – past actions find their consequences in the future. <I= is repeated to convey the message that a person’s free choice decides his fate – that is what <makes the difference=.
On the literal level The poem opens with the speaker telling us of how he once stood before two diverging roads, trying to decide which road to continue his journey on.
HOTS relevant to this poem.
Problem Solving This means identifying the problem, considering the options, weighing the pros and cons and finally reaching a decision. We can see ALL these stages in the poem. This thinking skill helps us understand the dilemma or the problem the speaker is facing, and the solution he reaches in the end. Inferring This means reading between the lines and trying to reach a conclusion based on the information we have. The speaker never expresses explicitly what his feelings are or what message he is trying to convey. We can use the thinking skill of inferring to understand the speaker's state of mind and how he feels about his decision – is it a sigh of relief or regret? Explaining cause and effect: This means identifying the reasons (the cause) why things happen. Then identifying and describing the result (the effect) of specific actions and explaining the connection between the two. This thinking skill helps us understand that the decision the speaker made in the past has affected the way he has lived his life. Comparing and Contrasting This means finding similarities and differences between two things and drawing conclusions based on them. This thinking skill helps us understand how the speaker compared and contrasted the two roads and drew his conclusion as to which road to
take.
Uncovering motives This means identifying reasons for the character's behavior and supporting them with evidence from the text. We sometimes want to know why a character behaves in a certain way. This thinking skill helps us try and uncover the motive of why the speaker will be telling the story with a sigh, or why he chooses one way and not the other. Distinguishing different perspectives This means identifying different points of view within a text. This skill helps us understand the different perspective the speaker will have on his decision later on in life than he has now.
How can you relate these quotes to the poem?
"A wise person decides slowly but abides by these decisions." Arthur Ashe
"A lot of people don't want to make their own decisions. They're too scared. It's much easier to be told what to do." Marilyn Manson
"Quick decisions are unsafe decisions." Sophocles
"The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose." Thornton Wilder
"Decisions should be based on facts, objectively considered." Marvin Bower
'The road not taken' summary
Course: B.A English Language and Literature
University: Mahatma Gandhi University
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