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.




Something to share:

I have read "The Road Not taken" poem by Robert Frost before, And I have fallen in love with this poem and also the poet. The first thing I like about it is how this poem rhymes in every stanza. We can see it from the first stanza the word wood rhymes with both, stood, could, and undergrowth. The second stanza is also pretty with the words fair, claim, wear, there, and same. Even though the last word same is not quite the same with the others, it still sounds good though. The third and the forth are quite different. He puts 2 different rhymes words in each stanza. In the third stanza you can hear how the word lay goes with day and way and also the word black and back. The same thing happens in the last stanza where the word sigh goes with I and by while hence and difference. Those rhymes words make the poem heard very pretty filled with beautiful rhythms.

The second interesting thing that I have found from this poem is how Robert Frost puts the words that can make me really see or feel it that can give a vivid imagery in my head. For instance, in the line "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" I can really see a yellow wood in my head, and also in the second stanza "Because it was grassy..." I can really see the green and grassy road in front of me. And also there is one onomatopoeia in the last stanza which is sigh. And the repetition on ages and ages feels like it is a very long time.

This poem is quite hard to interpret because the deep meaning behind the sophisticated words that Robert Frost uses. It made me think over and over again to get the idea of this beautiful poem. As far as I can get, this poem tells about a moment when we have to choose between 2 ways that will make a difference, the ways that we have to through. We should choose because we cannot take both of them. It is a very hard decision because you cannot predict or see what is in the middle and the end of the both ways. We probably can see what it's in the beginning of the each paths. We can make a assumption which one is better than the other just like Frost says in the second stanza. And in the last stanza we can see that the person in the poem has finally made a decision that has made all the difference.

When ever I read this poem I always remember Professor Gurito, my Introduction to Literature professor back in my home university. He is a very good professor who has a big passion toward poetry. He was the first person who gave me this poem and the turned me to someone who has a big interest in literature.

I liked his opinion about the poem but the one that I have written above is my own opinion. We have completely difference thoughts about it. But once again, poetry is not a fixed science. People interpret it the way they want to, there is no wrong or true. :)