Experience Through Decision
             A progression from innocence through experience takes place over the length of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken. The first stanza sets the stage for mystery, decision, and maturation. The poem continues to evolve through the last stanza where there are feelings of sorrow, wonder and pride.
             The title seems to give the meaning of the poem away right off the bat. However, the first line brings back interest, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood". When I think of a wood or a forest, I don't think of them as yellow. I envision browns, greens, sunlight beaming through wherever it can onto thickly littered pine needles, mystery and wonder. The woods being yellow grabs my attention. Does the yellow represent the sunlight beaming onto the forest floor, or does it signify caution. I think the latter. Frost is setting the stage for the significance of the decision that is being presented to him. His innocence is being tested. Which road will he take, and what effect will it have on his life to come?
             The second stanza interprets Frost's analysis of the two roads. He proclaims one as being less worn and having a yearning to tackle it. In the next breath, however, he declares the two roads as being equal. This is confusing to me as the reader, and perhaps is Frost's way of portraying his confusion about his decision as to which road to take – assuming, of course, that in his poem he is referring to a trial in his own life.
             The remaining two stanzas reveal his decision and expose his feeling about his decision. He chooses the road with, "... leaves no step had trodden black." He stepped up and made his decision knowing that once made, it cannot be undone. When he says, "[he] shall be telling this with a sigh", Frost is exposing a feeling sadness over his decision. He will always be left wondering if the path he chose was the best path....