The literal meaning of this poem by Robert Frost is pretty obvious. A traveler comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. After much mental debate, the traveler picks the road "less traveled by."
The figurative meaning is not too hidden either. The poem describes the tough choices people stand for when traveling the road of life. The words "sorry" and "sigh" make the tone of poem somewhat gloomy. The traveler regrets leaves the possibilities of the road not chosen behind. He realizes he probably won't pass this way again. As with many of Frost's other poems, "The Road Less Taken" can be read from two sides. On the surface a poem about a walk in the woods, this work takes on much greater significance with the line 'somewhere ages and ages hence'; you do not often remember taking the left fork of a path in the woods ages and ages hence, unless it proves to be a life-altering decision. The poem hinges on the interpretation of one word: 'sigh,' in line sixteen. The type of sigh that you see the author taking is central to how you view the poem. If you see a cheerful old man reminiscing on days gone by, sighing as he remembers the good old days, the poem will have a pos
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Again we see Frost at his best when he provides the questions, and not the answers. When the traveler comes to the fork in the road, he wishes he could travel both. I will know that that choice made “all the difference” in my life. If you see a grizzled geezer, grumbling as he signs about lost opportunities in days gone by, the poem can be terribly depressing. But the description of the road wanting wear is an example of personification in this poem. And I too, will choose a road, perhaps one less traveled, and maybe go to a distant college, or a prestigious college, or perhaps negative things. The title refers doubly to bravado for choosing a road less traveled but also to regret for a road of lost possibility and the eliminations and changes produced by choice. I feel that the poem says that in a yellow wood, that is probably been used and traveled by others, there is a fork. It parodies and demurs from the biblical idea that God is the "way" that can and should be followed and the American idea that nature provides the path to spiritual enlightenment. It's either adventurous and brazen, or foolhardy and arrogant. As evolved creatures, we should be able to make choices, but the poem suggests that our choices are irrational and aesthetic.
Yet another little contradiction are two remarks in the second stanza about the road less traveled. First it's described as grassy and wanting wear, after which he turns to say the roads are actually worn about the same (perhaps the road less traveled makes travelers turn back?).
Approximate Word count =
1189
Approximate Pages =
5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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