At first glance when reading Robert Frost’s poem “The road not taken,” one might think that the traveler is deciding which road to take in hoping to not make bad decisions in life. Looking at two different roads as if one lead to hell and one lead to heaven. After reading the entire poem, I connected with the poem. It very clearly stated to me that the poem is about coming across to good roads, and not knowing which direction to take life into because of being afraid of missing out on what could have happened along the other road that was not taken.
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When two positive opportunities come about, and one not sure which opportunity to take advantage of, it is hard to make a choice. In the first paragraph of the poem, the narrator talks about the roads before him. When the narrator mentions the two roads splitting up, it is talking about two choices that have come about that he can choose from to change his own life. The narrator was taking a long time to choose a road because he could not see which road was better to take because you can not travel two different directions at once.
And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth” (4-5). The narrator recognizes what he can do, but cannot foretell where the roads will end up. The undergrowth represents the future being blocked from his vision. He does not know which road will lead him in a better direction or where his life will go because of the undergrowth blocking the way. The narrator wants to travel both because when two opportunities arise that both are appealing, it is hard to miss out on one because you chose the other instead.
When two opportunities both seem appealing, regret can occur because of feeling like one has missed something more exciting on the other opportunity that had not been taken. “Then took the other, as just as fair, / And having perhaps the better claim” (6-7). Being “just as fair” says that both of the roads were of equal importance to him and he did not feel the other had a negative aspect.
The narrator chooses the road with a “better claim”, meaning the one that looked better out of unsure judgement. Because it was grassy and wanted wear; / Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same” (8-10). Looking for a road less traveled was something he was looking to explore. Roads that are grassy means not many people have traveled along the road. Dirt roads are roads used a lot because feet have worn down the grass, and there is no way for grass to grow back with all the feet walking along the road. He was using poor judgement because of how he says that they were really worn the same once he started to walk down the chosen road.
Jay Parini mentions in his critical analysis that Frost is a “wily ironist” because of how he repeats the same concept over and over again as if the reader doesn’t comprehend. When reading the poem, coming across the same messages just written in a different way could just be alerting the reader that the narrator really has no way of identifying which road is better. By repeating how the two roads are identical just show the reader how the narrator can just be indecisive and really can not find a justification in choosing one over the other.
Parini way think he is “mocking” and using a “self-inflated tone”, I feel it makes the poem very clear of how hard it is for the narrator to choose one road because of how much he may regret it in the future. Both roads are a good choice to take. They both are the same just with different outcomes. “And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black” (11-12). Both roads are the same, the leaves are undisturbed, fresh and not black from being worn down from people walking on the road. “Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back” (13-15).
The road he did not choose he will save for another day if he will ever come back to the same encounter which he doubts. But, because of the good opportunity where he back indecisive on what road to choose, he wants to take the other road if he has to chance to. Missing out on something good is something the narrator does not want. “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” (16-20).
Phillip L. Gerber states “Frost purposefully leaves many questions raised by the poem unanswered. Perhaps the sigh most of all indicates that it is not about taking both roads or about which road was taken but about which road was taken but about having to chose only one. We will always sigh that we cannot take both roads, but the facts that we make the choice to do something at all is of the ultimate importance” (295). I can completely agree with what Gerber has stated. The unknowing of what the other road has to offer can drive one crazy.
It is like having two lottery tickets and having only the knowledge that both are winners, but once you choose one ticket you’ll want to know how much you could have won fi you chose the other. Years and years later he will be telling people about the time in his life where it had diverged and he had to make a choice. Telling the story with a sigh shows the sign or regret not knowing what could have happened if he took the other road, but he will be able to tell a story of the good things that did happen to him. The road less traveled had affected his life completely in a positive manner but he missed out on something he will never know.
The narrator has come across two different roads that were not traveled very much, and by this the narrator chose the less traveled road. He wants the best experience for his life and to have a great experience. Throughout the poem the narrator starts to wonder about how the other road would be different from the one he chose. He regrets not knowing what could’ve happened. The plan to return to the same situation helps him to feel less regret towards not taking the other road, but in the future he will always remember the other road he did not take, but be able to tell a story about the good things he did experience from the road he chose. All in all he will never know what the other road could have held for his future, but he was happy with the choice he did make.
