Tuesday Tidbit: “The Road Not Taken”

written by Rachel W.

“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.

“The Road Not Taken” is a classic poem known by many to symbolize taking your own path. Frost uses nature as a way to express the importance of choices, and in the end, being unique.

It is important to note that Frost is not just telling his audience to be different for the sake of being different. He shows that we have the power to be unique in our own ways and to choose what we want as individuals. Whether you would have taken the worn path or the road less traveled is up to you to decide, and either choice is okay. For example, if you and your friends go get ice cream and they all get vanilla, you don’t have to get vanilla if you don’t want to. However, if you want to, go for it! Frost is not saying following the crowd is bad, but in this instance, he decided not to follow what others were doing. He recognized the power he had to make his own choice, and THAT is what the made the difference in the end.