The grassy roads and yellow woods represent the present as the individual views from a future perspective. Frost saw that his friend perhaps wished he could travel many paths simultaneously in order to compare and reject. This self-realization is pathetic and ironic in itself. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. This poem does not advise.
However, this, too, is a loaded philosophical Frost question with no easy answer. And it is, in most respects, a normal piece of smartly assembled and quietly manipulative product promotion. Both are true and important to the poem. What are sighed for ages and ages hence are not so much the wrong decisions as the moments of decision themselves—moments that, one atop the other, mark the passing of a life. Thanks, Andrew, for this excellent analysis of one of my favorite Robert Frost poems.
Was the choice of the road less travelled a positive one? Comscore ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Frost is not simply that rare bird, a popular poet; he is one of the best-known personages of the past hundred years in any cultural arena. Commentary This has got to be among the best-known, most-often-misunderstood poems on the planet. Statistics Author Google Analytics This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. Someone questioned the words used in this recitation.
Akismet This is used to detect comment spam. He has a general tendency to work within and without boundaries, carving memorable, identifiable and idiosyncratic poetry. Structure Robert Frost has used free-verse style in The Road Not Taken. Easiest home based online job to earn extra dollars every month just by doing work for maximum 2 to 3 hrs a day. That morning the road on which no step had trodden lay there welcoming him. The poet sets up a fictional stage for an individual upon which he sets the direction of his life with irreparable consequences.
He moved to New Hampshire in his early teens. For verification that these are Frost's words, please see these links:. Remarketing Pixels We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. At least one of these was a massive international best seller: M. Old age has applied the concept of Wisdom to a choice that was, at the time, basically arbitrary.
Joking aside though, thank you for springing to our defence. Perhaps not, life has a way of letting one thing leading to another until going backwards is just no longer an option. HubPages Google Analytics This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. He realizes the magnitude of the impact the road had on him. His narrators are often close to nature, wandering in woods, in snowstorms and picking apples. The poem also inspires to leave behind the herd mentality and travel alone when no one is there to support you on your mission.
Yet he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to do so. All the speaker knows is that he prefers the road less travelled, perhaps because he enjoys solitude and believes that to be important. It contains all of his classics and more. This article was most recently revised and updated by , Senior Editor. With ironic undertones throughout, the poem contains hints of remorse due to choosing a path without much knowledge about either. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. We might pick the road that gets us where we want to go, or one that takes us somewhere new, but either way, the road we choose takes us to where we are.
The ironic undertone is inexorable. Identical forks, in particular, symbolize for us the nexus of free will and fate: We are free to choose, but we do not really know beforehand what we are choosing between. It is ambiguous, as you say, but if you write or read poetry, it is positive. Complete Text 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; 5 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, 10 And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. The future self will regret first his decision about taking road less traveled on. Yet, as if to confuse the reader, Frost writes in the final stanza: I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. The fork is a metaphor for a life-altering choice in which a compromise is not possible.