poetry essay for the road not taken

The Road Not Taken Summary & Analysis by Robert Frost

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

Written in 1915 in England, "The Road Not Taken" is one of Robert Frost's—and the world's—most well-known poems. Although commonly interpreted as a celebration of rugged individualism, the poem actually contains multiple different meanings. The speaker in the poem, faced with a choice between two roads, takes the road "less traveled," a decision which he or she supposes "made all the difference." However, Frost creates enough subtle ambiguity in the poem that it's unclear whether the speaker's judgment should be taken at face value, and therefore, whether the poem is about the speaker making a simple but impactful choice, or about how the speaker interprets a choice whose impact is unclear.

• Read the full text of “The Road Not Taken”

The Full Text of “The Road Not Taken”

1 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

2 And sorry I could not travel both

3 And be one traveler, long I stood

4 And looked down one as far as I could

5 To where it bent in the undergrowth;

6 Then took the other, as just as fair,

7 And having perhaps the better claim,

8 Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

9 Though as for that the passing there

10 Had worn them really about the same,

11 And both that morning equally lay

12 In leaves no step had trodden black.

13 Oh, I kept the first for another day!

14 Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

15 I doubted if I should ever come back.

16 I shall be telling this with a sigh

17 Somewhere ages and ages hence:

18 Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

19 I took the one less traveled by,

20 And that has made all the difference.

“The Road Not Taken” Summary

“the road not taken” themes.

Choices and Uncertainty

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Individualism and Nonconformity

Making Meaning

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “the road not taken”.

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.

Lines 13-15

Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

Lines 16-17

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Lines 18-20

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” Symbols

Diverging Roads

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The Road Less Traveled

“the road not taken” poetic devices & figurative language, extended metaphor.

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“The Road Not Taken” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Yellow wood
• Undergrowth
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Road Not Taken”

Rhyme scheme, “the road not taken” speaker, “the road not taken” setting, literary and historical context of “the road not taken”, more “the road not taken” resources, external resources.

"The Most Misread Poem in America" — An insightful article in the Paris Review, which goes into depth about some of the different ways of reading (or misreading) "The Road Not Taken."

Robert Frost reads "The Road Not Taken" — Listen to Robert Frost read the poem.

Book Review: "The Road Not Taken," by David Orr — Those looking for an even more in-depth treatment of the poem might be interested in David Orr's book, "The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong."

LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Frost

Acquainted with the Night

After Apple-Picking

Desert Places

Dust of Snow

Fire and Ice

Home Burial

Mending Wall

My November Guest

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

The Death of the Hired Man

The Oven Bird

The Sound of the Trees

The Tuft of Flowers

The Wood-Pile

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• The Road Not Taken

Read below our complete notes on the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. Our notes cover The Road Not Taken summary, themes, and a detailed literary analysis.

Background of the Poem

“The Road Not Taken” is a poem by Robert Frost. It was published in The Atlantic Monthly in August 1915. This poem was used as an opening poem of Robert Frost’s collection Mountain Interval in 1916. It presents a narrator who is recalling his journey through the forest when he had to choose between two divergent roads. This poem is one of the most well-known and most often misunderstood poems of Robert Frost. 

Frost’s Inspiration for “The Road Not Taken”

The inspiration of “The Road Not Taken” came when Frost noticed a familiar habit of his close friend in England, Edward Thomas. Frost used to frequently take long walks with Thomas through the countryside. Edward Thomas, an English-Welsh poet, would always regret not taking the other path. Thomas would always sigh over what they would have seen if they had taken the other path. Thomas would think that if they had chosen the other path, it might have offered them many opportunities to see and experience nature. 

At such times of regret, Frost would always tell Thomas that “It does not matter what road you take. You will always regret and wish you had taken the other one.” In this way, Frost wrote this poem to be a light-hearted one but it turned to be more serious and ambiguous for readers. 

Historical Context

There were different historically significant events going on in 1916. Therefore, it is not possible to identify one specific meaning as the one that the poet had in mind. When this poem was written, things of great importance were occurring in the poet’s life and social order. Firstly, in 1916, an act of Congress made “The National Park Services” to keep millions of acres of the forest land safe for the enjoyment of future generations. 

Secondly, Albert Einstein came up with his theory of relativity which claimed that things are dependent on relative circumstances and not on absolute knowledge. The end result of any choice that a person makes is not absolute. This affected the thinking of people to a great extent. They started treating events and feelings relative. The pleasing connection with nature and one’s personal feelings regarding one’s future are the main subjects of this poem. 

Industrial Revolution and World War I

The industrial revolution in the late 1800s brought advances in international commerce through advances in travel and communication. It became difficult for economic powers like the U.S. and Japan to stay uninvolved. The American public wanted no involvement in World War I. It was a year after this poem was published when America had to choose between joining the war. 

When Frost and his family went home, England was already at war. The central subject of “The Road Not Taken” reflects the position of the two countries where Frost had lived. Britain joined other countries in the fight and America tried to stay away from it. Each side has a good reason to choose their path and face the consequences. 

Urbanization

The relation between people and society is the central core of “The Road Not Taken.” The poet asks the question of whether one must follow the footsteps of the majority or the least traveled path. In 1916, this question was part of the debate. Industrialization was the dominant social force in the last half of the nineteenth-century. 

As factories went up, people came to cities to get jobs. Immigrants from other countries came for the same reason. The cities started to construct new quarters for the coming families. These living quarters were made together on top of one another. It created a frustrating situation for those people who came from open lands. 

By 1916, artists, philosophers, and other sensitive people started questioning the depersonalizing effects of urbanization and industrialization. They were worried about the situation that has changed the nature of human thinking. People followed what the majority was doing and they lost connection with themselves and nature as well. They couldn’t decide on their own and they relied on others for prosperity. This poem raises the question regarding individuality and independence. 

The Road Not Taken Summary

The speaker of the poem walks through a forest where trees have shed their yellow leaves in autumn. He reaches a junction where the road becomes two diverging roads. The speaker is one person; therefore, he regrets that he cannot travel both roads. He stands at the fork in the road for a long time. He tries to see where one of the paths does go. The speaker cannot see very far because the forest is dense. Also, the road is not straight. 

The speaker then takes the other path. He judges the second path as good a choice as the first one. He considers it a better option of the two since it is grassy. The path chosen by the speaker is also less worn than the first path. When the speaker starts walking on the second road, he thinks that the two paths are more or less equally ragged. 

The speaker recalls that both roads were covered with leaves in the morning. These leaves had not been yet turned black by foot walks. He exclaims that he is saving the first road and will travel it some other day. Immediately, the speaker contradicts his statement with the recognition that in one’s life, one road leads to another road. Therefore, it is unlikely to say that he will ever get a chance to come back to the first road. 

The speaker visualizes his distant future when he will be narrating, with a sigh, the story of his choosing which road to travel. The speaker speaks as if he is looking back from his future at the present choice. He says that he had to choose between two roads, and he chose the one which was less traveled. The speaker from the future says that the result of that selection between roads has made all the differences in the speaker’s life. 

Themes in the Poem

The central theme of the poem appears when the speaker faces crossroads. The first line of the poem says that “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” It is a classic conceit for a life decision. The speaker then begins to consider the two options. He tries to select a better choice. However, Frost’s poem claims that our choices are less real than we think. Our power to perceive meaningful differences among options is negligible—the two roads are “as just as fair.” 

According to the poem, fate constantly guides us to take a step forward despite our attempts to exercise free will. Our choices fall inferior to our fate which decides all.

Choices and Uncertainty

In “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker describes himself as a confused person who is facing a situation to choose between two roads. The speaker’s choice acts as an extended metaphor for all the choices that every individual must make in life. Through the speaker’s experience, the poem describes the nature of choices and the situation when a person is forced to choose.

The speaker’s first emotion is “sorrow,” as he regrets the reality that it is impossible to “travel both” roads or to experience both things. The poem explores that every choice demands the loss of opportunity. Also, choices are painful because they are made with incomplete information. 

The speaker seeks to collect as much information as possible by observing “down one (road) as far as I could.” However, there is a limit to what the speaker can see and the rest of the things are out of his sight. The speaker has not enough information about which one path is the right one. No one can truly predict what each choice will bring. This poem reflects the anxiety that everyone experiences whenever they step forward on a new road in life. 

After making a final choice, one loses the opportunity to experience the things that are not chosen. The choice of one thing cuts off the knowledge of the alternate choice. It leaves one with uncertainty and they never know if they had made the right choice.

The final line of the poem is a reminder that one’s choices in life make all the difference. It is the choice that gives identity to a person. 

I ndividualism and nonconformity 

In “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker has to choose between two roads. He chooses the one which is less traveled. The choice between the two roads can be treated as a conventional choice versus unconventional choice. By selecting the less-traveled path, the speaker shows that he values individualism over conformity

While deciding which road to take, the speaker notes that the second is “just as fair” as the first. However, the less worn-out state of the road makes the speaker choose it. Notably, the absence of signs of travel on the chosen path is taken positively rather than negatively. Rather than saying that the road looked as if it had not traveled much, the speaker states that it was “grassy”. Being grassy shows it is the result of a very few people walking on it. The speaker also says that the second road “wanted wear.”

It means that the road itself demanded to walk on it. In this way, the speaker suggests that nonconformity is a positive trait. It also shows that popularity makes things less attractive.

Despite the speaker’s suggestion for nonconformity, the poem remains ambiguous about whether the grassy road will lead to something better. In this way, firstly, the poem states that it is hard to identify what is non-conformist. After choosing the road, the two roads seem about the same. It confuses the speaker more that he does not know if the road was less traveled. The speaker seems to sense that though he or she has attempted to take the road “less traveled,” there’s no actual way to know if it was less traveled.

Secondly, the poem subtly suggests that no guarantee choosing a less walked path will make a positive difference. There is also a third opinion offered by the poem as well. The speaker says that selecting the path made all the differences. It is not the path that makes the difference because no one can truly measure which path is traveled less. The difference is made by choosing a direction that is not conventional. In this way, the poem teaches that it is one’s effort that matters.

Making meaning

This poem suggests that it is less important to think if the speaker’s choice made all the difference from what he believes that it did. People create a fictional version of their lives by making beliefs and meaning when they are not there. However, this poem does not consider meaning-making as deceitful but rather as a part of human life.

Another theme in this poem is indecision. In reality, the speaker of the poem has to choose to travel one road between the two. However, he overthinks and procrastinates. He tries to look for all the experiences he has to face on each road. At last, he decides to take the one that was grassy and less traveled. After making the decision, the speaker still concerns his future and the consequences of his choice. If it was one road, it would be easier for him to travel immediately. Similarly, people face such a situation in their lives, and therefore, they confront indecisiveness. 

Self-belief

The speaker in the poem decides to choose the road himself. He does not rely on someone else to direct him. The speaker seems to have confidence in himself. Therefore, he puts himself responsible for all the consequences in the future regarding his choice in the present. 

This poem suggests that one should have faith in one’s self. Such quality of independent decision- making helps people learn many things. They start valuing their intuition. They build confidence in explaining their decision. In this way, trust in one’s self develops. 

The Road Not Taken Literary Analysis

“The Road Not Taken” is a poem about the struggles of the speaker to decide which one of the two roads he must choose. It has both literal and metaphorical meanings. The two roads symbolize two directions in life to follow. This poem highlights those moments in life when it is necessary to take a firm decision without enough information.

This poem questions a person’s free will and determinism. The speaker in the poem consciously decides which way he has to go. He rejects the path with the bend in it. Also, external factors play an important role in his decision-making process.

This poem is about the sacrifices that one has to make. To make a difference, a person has to prefer one option over another and belief in him.

The poet travels on foot in the woods. He reaches a junction where two roads diverged. Suddenly, he realizes that as a single traveler, he can’t travel both roads. Here, two roads are used as a metaphor for two ways of life. The forest is yellow, which means that it is autumn and the trees are shedding their yellow leaves.

As the speaker can’t travel both the roads, he stands there to try to select which path he is going to travel to. However, the poet wants to go down both roads. He is thinking about it hard. He is looking down one road. He tries to see where it goes. The thickness of the woods blocks the view of the speaker. Also, the road is bent in shape and not linear.

The phrase “as just as it is fair” means righteous and equal. This phrase is an example of a simile. The speaker decides to examine the other path because he finds the other road to be less traveled and full of grass

“Wanted wear” is an example of personification. The speaker has personified the grassy road and says that it wanted people to walk on it.

After traveling through the road, the speaker explores that both the roads are equally traveled. At first, the speaker finds the first road to be the more traveled one. Then, he says that both the roads seem equally traveled. The phrase ‘as for that” refers to the road being less worn.

Lines 11-15

Here, the speaker finds that both the paths are looking the same in the morning. After this, he goes in the flashback. It was a tough decision for him to choose the real road because, in the morning, he was the first person who walked on the road. There were no other footsteps. For this reason, he couldn’t decide the right path immediately as no step had left marks on the leaves on the roads to show him the right road. In these lines, the speaker has used imagery.

The poet exclaims that he saves the first passage for another time. He knows that “way leads” to another, and then another. He knows that in this way, one ends up very far from where one has started the journey. The poet here saves the first road for another day. Additionally, the speaker doesn’t think he will ever be able to come back and take the other path to experience it.

Lines 16-20

This stanza shows the speaker’s failure in choosing the right path. The word ‘sigh’ suggests that he will be disappointed with the decision. He accepts that he will be responsible if he fails in taking the right decision. “Ages and ages” is an example of alliteration.

The poet took the road that no one else did and it made the difference in his life that made him unique. One’s individualism matters. Nevertheless, a “difference” may mean success or complete failure.

Mood and tone

It is important to understand the difference between tone and mood. The tone of the poem is how the author of the work feels about it. One can identify it by examining the diction of the work. The diction of the poem is descriptive.

By using words like “diverged,” “sorry,” and “sigh,” the tone of the poem is about longing and meditation. This poem is reflective and thoughtful. The speaker is confused between two options. It is a turning point in the life of the speaker. He has to choose one path and leave behind the other forever.

The speaker is thinking about the pros and cons of the situation. The decision needs a serious approach to consider the outcomes of each choice.  

The mood of the poem is related to the readers and their feelings about the poem. In this way, the mood of the poem is somber and anxious in the beginning but hopeful at the end.

Narrative poem

“The Road Not Taken” is a narrative poem. It has a character, setting, plot, and conflict. The conflict in the poem is the indecisiveness of the persona of the poem.

Point of View

“The Road Not Taken” is narrated from the first-person point of view. The speaker describes his experience by representing himself as “l.” It enables readers to understand the speaker’s feelings and thoughts.

Style, structure, and Rhyme

“The Road Not Taken” consists of four stanzas. Each stanza comprises five lines. The rhyme is strict with the rhyming scheme ABAAB, except for the last line. It is written in iambic tetrameter.

The setting of the poem is “yellow woods.” It is a place where one road is divided into two. The yellow color depicts the autumn season. The road is in a deserted place because there are no other travelers. The speaker standing at the junction sees that one road is gassier than the other.

The speaker of this poem has no name and identity. There is no depiction of the physical appearance of the speaker. It represents the whole of human nature. Human nature wants life to have meaning and purpose. The speaker of the poem is a traveler who comes up with an important decision to make.

The crossroads symbolize the journey of life. It also signifies the destination. People come across decision- making moments that contain equally balanced alternatives. One has to consider the advantages and disadvantages before making a choice.

Literary Devices in the Poem

Alliteration.

Alliteration is the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a series of words at a stressed syllable. In the second stanza, the sound /w/ is repeated in “ w anted w ear.” Similarly, the sound /f/ is repeated in “ f irst f or” in the third stanza.

It is the repetition of identical vowel sounds in successive words. In this poem, assonance contributes to establish the rhyme of the poem and make it easily readable. “L oo ked down one a s f a r a s I c ou ld,” “ a s just a s f a ir,” “it w a s gr a ssy and w a nted we a r,” and “ a ges and a ges” are all examples of assonance. 

Connotation

Connotation means the secondary meaning of the word. The primary meaning of “The Road” is a path that a person travels. Its secondary meaning is of “choice.” The presence of two paths/two choices gives the feeling of indecision to the speaker.

It is the repetition of consonant sounds at the start, middle or end of the words. “Yello w w oods,” “ t o where i t ben t ,” “ th en took the o th er,” “ w anted w ear,” and “kno w ing ho w w ay leads on to w ay” are all the examples of consonance.

This whole poem is an extended metaphor. The two roads act as a metaphor for two choices in life. The thinking of the speaker about the selection of one road is also a metaphor used for thinking before taking a decision.

The yellow color of the woods is also a metaphor. It is compared with the moment when a person has to choose the downfall of his life or when he is getting old.

Personification

Personification means to attribute human qualities to nonhuman things. Personification occurs in the second stanza when the speaker says that the road was grassy and “wanted wear.” By saying that the road has a “better claim,” the speaker states that the road intends to attract travelers.

For most of the poem, the speaker is describing the setting. Visual imagery is used because the speaker is sketching the scenery. He says that the road is yellow which creates a mental image of trees shedding leaves in autumn. The worn-out state of the road also contributes to the meaning of the poem. There is auditory imagery as well by using the word “sigh.”

The irony in the poem is in the idea of multiple significance of the road. They are not simple roads because they have a secondary meaning as well. The speaker of the poem has to take the road of the majority or the road with fewer travelers. The eventual choice of the speaker is also ironic. Both the roads are equally worn out but the speaker still chooses the second. 

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General Education

Robert Frost is arguably one of the most well-known American poets of all time, so it’s not surprising that his work is taught in high schools and colleges across the nation. Because he’s so famous, chances are you’ve encountered “The Road Not Taken” before .

We’re here to help you build a deeper understanding of “The Road Not Taken.” To help you learn what Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” poem is all about, we’ll cover the following in this article:

• A brief intro to the poet, Robert Frost
• Information about the poem’s background
• “The Road Not Taken” meaning
• “The Road Not Taken” analysis, including the top two themes in the poem
• The poetic devices in “The Road Not Taken” that you need to know

There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get going!

Robert Frost is widely recognized as one of the most influential American poets of the 20th century. (Sneha Raushan/ Wikimedia )

Robert Frost Biography

Robert Frost was born in 1874 in San Francisco, California. His father was a newspaper editor (a profession Frost later practiced himself, among others), and his mother was a teacher and Scottish immigrant. When he was about ten years old, his family moved to Massachusetts to be near his grandfather, who owned a sawmill. Frost was named both the valedictorian and the “class poet” of his high school graduating class ...and two years later published his first poem, “My Butterfly: An Elegy,” in the New York Independent magazine. 

At this point, Frost knew he wanted to be a poet. But unfortunately, the next segment of Frost’s life would be marked by upheaval . He attended both Dartmouth and Harvard, but dropped out of both before graduating. His poetry wasn’t gaining traction in the United States, either. To complicate matters further, Frost and his wife, Elinor, suffered personal tragedy when two of their six children died in infancy. 

In 1900, feeling frustrated by his job prospects and a lack of traction in his poetry career, Frost moved his family to a farm left to him by his grandfather in Derry, New Hampshire. Frost would live there for nine years, and many of his most famous early poems were written before his morning chores while tending to the farm . But Frost’s poetry was still largely overlooked by American publishers. Consequently, Frost decided to sell the farm in 1911 and moved his family to London. It was there he published his first anthology of poetry, A Boy’s Will, in 1913 . 

Frost’s second anthology, North of Boston, was published in 1914 and found massive success in England. Finally, after years of struggle, Frost became a famous poet essentially overnight. In order to avoid WWI, Frost returned to the U.S. in 1915 and began teaching at Amherst College and the University of Michigan , all the while continuing to write poetry. He received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and became the public face of 20th century American poetry . Late in life, at 86 years old, Robert Frost also became the first inaugural poet at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1960. 

Throughout his career, Frost never strayed far from old-fashioned, pastoral poetry, despite the fact that newer American poets moved in a more experimental direction. Frost’s poetry continued to focus on rural New England life up until his death in 1963. 

Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken” Poem

“The Road Not Taken” is a narrative poem , meaning it is a poem that tells a story. It was written in 1915 as a joke for Frost’s friend, Edward Thomas. Frost and Thomas were fond of hiking together, and Thomas often had trouble making up his mind which trail they should follow. (Yes, that’s right: one of the most famous American poems was originally written as a goofy private joke between two friends!)

Frost first read it to some college students who, to his surprise, thought it a very serious poem. “The Road Not Taken” was first published in the August 1915 issue of The Atlantic Monthly , and then was re-published as the opening poem in his poetry collection Mountain Interval the next year.

The full text of the poem is below.

“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.

Frost's most famous poem got its start as part of a letter sent to his best friend on the eve of World War I.

The Background Behind “The Road Not Taken” Poem

“The Road Not Taken” has become well known for its perceived encouragement to take the “[road] less traveled by.” In other words, many people interpret this poem as a call to blaze new trails and break away from the status quo. This is partly why lots of people misremember the poem’s title as “The Road Less Travelled.” 

This interpretation of “The Road Not Taken” is debatable (more on that later), but it was enough to inspire Frost’s friend Edward Thomas to make a very grave decision to fight in World War I.

Frost and Thomas were great friends while Frost lived in England, both of them were well-read and very interested in nature. They frequently took long walks together , observing nature in the English countryside. However, Frost’s time in England ended in 1915 when World War I was on the verge of breaking out. He returned to the United States to avoid the war and fully expected Thomas to follow him. 

Thomas did not. Frost’s poem came in the mail as Thomas was deciding whether to leave Europe or to participate in the war effort. While “The Road Not Taken” wasn’t the only thing that made Thomas enlist and fight in World War I, it was a factor in his decision. Thomas, regretting his lack of achievement compared to his good friend Frost and feeling that the poem mocked his indecisiveness, decided to take initiative and fight for his country. Unfortunately, Thomas was killed at the Battle of Arras on April 9, 1917.

Thomas was inspired to take “the road not taken” because of Frost’s poem. The same is true for many people who’ve read the poem since it was first published in 1915. The concept of taking a “road less traveled'' seems to advocate for individuality and perseverance , both of which are considered central to American culture. The poem has been republished thousands upon thousands of times and has inspired everything from self-help books to car commercials .

Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” Analysis: Meaning and Themes

To help you understand the significance of Robert Frost’s poetry, we’ll break down the overall meaning and major themes of the poem in our “The Road Not Taken” analysis below. 

But before we do, go back and reread the poem. Once you have that done, come back here...and we can get started! 

Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” Meaning

“The Road Not Taken” is a poem that argues for the importance of our choices, both big and small, since they shape our journey through life . For Frost, the most important decisions we make aren’t the ones we spend tons of time thinking about, like who we have relationships with , where we go to college , or what our future career should be . Instead, Frost’s poem posits that the small choices we make each and every day also have big impacts on our lives. Each decision we make sets us upon a path that we may not understand the importance of until much, much later. 

This theme is reflected throughout the poem. For instance, the poem begins with a speaker placing us in a scene, specifically at the point where two roads break away from each other in the middle of a “yellow wood.”

The speaker is sorry they cannot go both directions and still “be one traveler,” which is to say that they cannot live two divergent lives and still be one single person . In other words, the speaker can’t “have their cake and eat it, too.” The speaker has to choose one direction to go down, because like in life, making a decision often means that other doors are subsequently shut for you. 

For example, if you choose to go to college at UCLA, that means you’re also choosing not to go to college elsewhere. You’ll never know what it would be like to go to the University of Michigan or as a freshman straight out of high school because you made a different choice. But this is true for smaller, day-to-day decisions as well. Choosing who you spend time with, how hard you study, and what hobbies your pursue are examples of smaller choices that also shape your future, too.

The speaker of the poem understands that . They stand at the crossroads of these two paths for a long time, contemplating their choice. First, they stare down one path as far as he or she can, to where it trails off into the undergrowth. The speaker then decides to take the other path, which they state is just as “fair,” meaning just as attractive as the first. The narrator states that the second path “wanted wear,” meaning that it was slightly more overgrown than the first path.

But more importantly, no matter which path the speaker takes, they know they’re committed to follow it wherever it may lead. We see that in this stanza:

While the speaker says they “saved the first” path for “another day” to make them feel better about their decision, the next two lines show that the speaker realizes they probably won’t be able to double back and take the first path, no matter where the second one leads. Just like in life, each path leads to another path, and then another. In other words, the decisions we make in the moment add up and influence where we end up in life--and we don’t really get a “redo” on. 

After choosing their path, the speaker says they look forward to a day far in the future when, “with a sigh,” they’ll tell people about taking the road “less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference.” 

Does this mean that taking the one less traveled has “made all the difference” in a good way?

Saying so “with a sigh” doesn’t necessarily sound like a good thing. The poem isn’t at all clear on whether or not taking the less traveled path was a good choice or a bad choice . So while the poem is clear that all of our choices shape the path we take in life, it’s more ambiguous about whether choosing “less traveled” paths is a good thing or not. That’s up to readers to decide! 

Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” Theme 1: The Power of Hindsight 

This brings us to our first theme: how hindsight gives our choices power.  

The speaker begins at a point of bifurcation (which is a fancy way of saying “break into two branches”). As readers, we’re meant to take the poem both as a literal story about someone in the woods trying to decide which way to go, as well as a metaphor about how our life choices are like divergent paths in the woods. 

Like we mentioned earlier, the poem is clear that you can’t take two paths and still “be one traveler,” nor can you be certain that you’ll ever get a chance to test out your other options. That’s because every choice you make leads to more choices, all of which lead you further and further from our starting point. 

However, the poem also suggests that while the choices we make are important, how we interpret these choices is what really makes us who we are. We see this in the last lines of the poem, which read: 

I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Essentially, the speaker is saying that later in life he will look back in time and see that moment as one of great significance. But we can only know which choices matter the most through the power of retrospection. It’s like the old saying goes: hindsight is 20/20! 

Here’s what frost means: when we’re making choices in life, they might seem inconsequential or like they’re not that big of a deal. But once time passes and we’ve journeyed down our path a little farther, we can look back into the past and see which choices have shaped us the most. And oftentimes, those choices aren’t the ones we think are most important in the moment. The clarity and wisdom of hindsight allows us to realize that doing something like taking the path “less traveled by” has impacted our lives immensely. 

"The Road Not Taken" is also about our perspective...and how hindsight helps us reconsider our past decision.  

Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” Theme 2: Perspective and Memory

The other major theme in “The Road Not Taken” is how our individual perspective. 

The speaker of the poem spends most of their time trying to decide which path to take. They describe each path in detail: the first one curves into the undergrowth, while the second was more tempting because it was “grassy” and a little less worn. 

But the truth is that these paths have more in common than not. They’re both in the woods, for one. But the speaker also says the first is “just as fair” as the other, meaning it’s just as pretty or attractive. They also mention that “And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black,” which is a poetic way of saying that neither path had been walked on in a while. And even the one the poet says is less traveled was actually “worn...about the same” as the first path! 

So it’s t he speaker’s perspective that makes these paths seem divergent rather than them actually being super different from one another! 

Because our perspectives shape the way we understand the world, it also affects our memories.  Our memories help us understand who we are, and they shape the person we become. But as we tell ourselves our own story, we overwrite our memories . It’s kind of like deleting a sentence and retyping it...only for it to change a little bit each time! 

What is your earliest memory? What is your favorite memory? Now think about this: are you remembering them, or are you remembering remembering them? Is there a difference? Yes, because science shows that every single time we recall a memory we change it . It’s very possible that your favorite early memory isn’t your memory at all--it is more likely a memory of being told something that happened to you. Perhaps you have a photograph of a moment that triggers your memory. The photograph may not change, but you do and your memory of the things that happened in that moment do.

So, if our experiences and our choices make us who we are, but we’re constantly misremembering and changing our memories, how do actual events even matter? 

“The Road Not Taken” says that they do. Our choices we make are impactful, but the way we remember them is what helps shape us as individuals. So “The Road Not Taken” isn’t necessarily an ode to bravely taking the less popular path when others wouldn’t. It’s more like an ode to being resigned to believing our choices made us who we are, even though if we hadn’t made them, hadn’t taken that path, we’d be someone else who made choices that were just as valid.

Poetic devices are the tools we can use to unpack the meaning of a poem. Here are two that are important to understanding "The Road Not Taken."

The Top 2 Poetic Devices in “The Road Not Taken”

Poetic devices are literary devices that poets use to enhance and create a poem’s structure, tone, rhythm, and meaning. In Robert Frost’s, “The Road Not Taken,” Frost uses iambic meter and voice to reinforce the poem’s meaning . 

Poetic Device 1: Iambic Meter

First thing’s first: the following is only a short overview of iambic meter. If you want an in-depth discussion of meter, check out our blog about it . 

So what is meter? The English language has about an equal number of stressed and unstressed syllables. Arranging these stressed syllables into consistent is one of the most common ways of giving a poem a structure... and this arrangement is called “meter.” 

A poem’s meter is made up of units. Each “unit” of stressed and unstressed syllables that repeats in a poem is called a foot. A foot can either be an iamb (one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable), a trochee (one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable), a dactyl (one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables) or an anapest (two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable). 

The iamb is the foot that comes to us most naturally as native English speakers, and the most iambs we can speak easily without having to inhale for another breath is about five. So the most common structure for English language poetry is iambic pentameter , meaning the most common foot is an iamb, and there are five iambs per line. Historically, the vast majority of poetry written in English has been in iambic pentameter, and it was the default format for English poetry for centuries.

But pentameter isn’t the only iambic meter : two feet make dimeter, three feet make trimeter, four feet make tetrameter, and six feet make hexameter, and so forth.

The Modernist poets started moving away from these traditional repeating patterns of meter just after World War I, using invented patterns called “free verse.” Although Modernist free verse didn’t replace metrical verse overnight or completely, it slowly broke down the central importance of it in ways that are still felt today. Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is from the very tail end of the iambic-meter-as-a-necessity era. Frost stubbornly and famously stuck to the traditional metrical forms , comparing free verse to playing tennis “with the net down.”

It is the iambic meter that gives the poem its “old-fashioned” rhythm and comfortable feeling. It’s also the thing that makes the poem sound so natural when you read it out loud. You may not even immediately recognize that the poem is in iambic meter, but it becomes clear when you start breaking down the lines. Take this one, for example:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

Looking at the stressed and unstressed syllables we get:

two ROADS/di-VERGED/in a YELL/ow WOOD

The capitalized syllables are stressed, and the lowercase ones aren’t. Each pair of these is an iamb! 

There are four stressed syllables on this line , as well as every other line in the poem. That means this poem is in iambic tetrameter. The most common foot is an iamb (although notice that the third foot is an anapest), and there are four of them.

So why is this important? First, iambic tetrameter is a metrical pattern favored by the 19th century Romantics , who very frequently wrote poems that involved lonely people having great epiphanies while out in nature by themselves. By mimicking that style, Frost pulls on a long poetic tradition helps readers hone in on some of the major themes of his poem--specifically, that the speaker’s decision in the woods will have long-term consequences for both their character and their life. 

The iambic form also rolls off of the tongue easily because it’s the most common meter in the English language. That also echoes the importance of nature in “The Road Not Taken”: both in terms of the natural imagery in the poem, but also in its discussion of the nature of perspective and memory. In that way, the form of the poem helps to reinforce its themes! 

Poetic Device 2: Voice

The second poetic device that Frost employs is voice. The voice of a poem is the product of all the stylistic and vocabulary choices that add up to create a character . In this case, the poem has one character: the speaker. The speaker is unnamed, and it’s through their perspective that we experience the poem. It’s easy to think of the speaker as being Frost himself, but try to resist that temptation. The voice of a poem is an artificial construct, a character created to give the poem a certain effect.\

So how does Frost create this voice? First, note that the poem is in first person . That means we’re getting the speaker’s perspective in their own words, signaled by their use of first person pronouns like “I.” Additionally, the audience isn’t being addressed directly (like in Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise). Instead, it’s as if we’ve intruded upon the speaker’s thoughts as they ruminate over the potential ramifications of choosing one path over another.

Writing the poem in first person means that we’re getting the story straight from the horse’s mouth. In some ways, this is a good thing: it helps us understand the speaker’s unique perspective and in their own unique voice. But in other ways, it makes the objective details of the moment less clear. That’s because t he speaker’s recounting of the moment in the woods is colored by his own memory. That means we have to rely on the speaker’s interpretation of events...and decide how that impacts our interpretation of the poem! The first person narration also gives the poem much of its reflective nature.

What’s Next?

Analyzing poetry can be tricky, so it’s helpful to read a few expert analyses. We have a bunch on our blog that you can read through, like this one about Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night” or this article that explains 10 different sonnets!

It’s much easier to analyze poetry when you have the right tools to do it! Don’t miss our in-depth guides to poetic devices like assonance , iambic pentameter , and allusion .

If you’re more about writing poetry than analyzing it, we’ve got you covered! Here are five great tips for writing poetry (and a few scholarships for budding poets , too).

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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Teach This Poem: “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

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Teach This Poem, though developed with a classroom in mind, can be easily adapted for remote-learning, hybrid-learning models, or in-person classes. Please see  our suggestions  for how to adapt this lesson for remote or blended learning. We have also noted suggestions when applicable and will continue to add to these suggestions online.

The following activities and questions are designed to help your students use their noticing skills to move through the poem and develop their thinking about its meaning with confidence, using what they’ve noticed as evidence for their interpretations.  Read more about the framework upon which these activities are based .

• Warm-up:  Draw what comes to mind when you hear this line: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” Share your drawing with your classmates. What did you choose to draw and why? 
• Before Reading the Poem:  (think-pair-share) With a partner, look closely at this  photo . What do you notice? Which path would you choose to walk down? Why? What do you think the phrase “the road not taken” means? 
• Reading the Poem : Now, silently read the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. What do you notice about the poem? Note any words or phrases that stand out to you or any questions you might have.
• Listening to the Poem   (enlist two volunteers to read the poem aloud) : Listen as the poem is read aloud twice, and write down any additional words and phrases that stand out to you. Or, you can opt to listen to a reading of the   poem .
• Small-group Discussion : Share what you noticed about the poem with a small group of students. Based on the details you just shared with your small group and the resources from the beginning of class, what do you think that the title “The Road Not Taken” means now? How does the title of the poem impact your reading? How might the poem be different without the title? 
• Whole-class Discussion : How would you describe the narrator? What do you notice about the structure and rhyme scheme of the poem? What do you think of the ending of the poem? 
• Extension for Grades 7-8 : Join with a partner or small group and generate a list of different titles for the poem. Share with your classmates and decide on your favorite titles. Choose one or more of the titles, or use “The Road Not Taken” and write your own poem. 
• Extension for Grades 9-12:  Prepare for a Socratic seminar about “The Road Not Taken” by reading the essay “ The Road Not Taken: The Poem Everyone Loves and Everyone Gets Wrong ” and writing your own response.

Find more lesson plans featuring classic poems ranging from  Romanticism  to  Modernism  with  this round-up , including poems by  Dylan Thomas ,  Emily Dickinson ,  Edgar Allan Poe , and others. 

Metaphor : a comparison between essentially unlike things, or the application of a name or description to something to which it is not literally applicable.  Read more .

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“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost: Analysis

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, originally published in 1916, was part of his collection Mountain Interval.

• 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.

Introduction: “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Table of Contents

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, originally published in 1916, was part of his collection Mountain Interval . The poem explores the theme of choices and their lasting consequences. Frost presents a speaker at a literal fork in the road, faced with a decision between two seemingly equal paths. With vivid natural imagery, the diverging paths symbolize life’s decisions. What makes “The Road Not Taken” unique is its frequent misinterpretation. While popularly seen as a celebration of individuality, the poem’s final lines contain a note of wistfulness, hinting that all choices carry some degree of regret. This complexity, alongside its enduring popularity, highlights the universality of pondering paths untraveled and the bittersweet nature of decision-making.

Annotations of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Literary devices in “the road not taken” by robert frost, sound and poetic devices in “the road not taken” by robert frost, functions of literary devices in “the road not taken” by robert frost.

• Imagery: Frost paints a memorable picture with details like “yellow wood” and the personified roads that “diverged” and “wanted wear.” The alliteration emphasizes the visual setting, while the personification begins the transformation of the roads into a metaphor for life’s choices.
• Tone: Frost’s diction, including words like “sorry,” “long I stood,” and “doubted,” establishes a thoughtful and introspective mood. The repeated “and” creates a sense of the speaker’s uncertainty and hesitation.
• Emphasis: Through the repetition of “two roads,” Frost underscores the poem’s core theme: the weight of choices and their consequences. This reminds the reader of the profound nature of the speaker’s dilemma.
• Meaning: The central metaphor of the roads, representing life choices, gains depth through Frost’s literary skill. The “road less traveled by” symbolizes individuality—choosing based on personal values over following the crowd. The final line, “And that has made all the difference,” suggests the speaker reflects on their choice with a sense of wisdom gained, highlighting the lasting impact decisions hold.

Themes in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

·  Choices and Consequences:

• Key Point: Every decision has a lasting impact, shaping our life’s trajectory.
• Evidence: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (Line 1) – Symbolizes life’s crossroads.
• Evidence: “And that has made all the difference” (Line 20) – Emphasizes how choices change the course of our lives.

·  Individuality vs. Conformity:

• Key Point: The value of choosing one’s own path, even when unconventional.
• Evidence: “I took the one less traveled by” (Line 18) – The speaker embraces independent thinking.
• Evidence: “…wanting wear” (Line 8) – Paths symbolize societal expectations, the less-traveled one representing nonconformity.

·  The Inevitability of Regret:

• Key Point: Even with satisfaction in our choices, a longing for the “what ifs” can linger.
• Evidence: “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” (Lines 13-14) – The speaker recognizes the finality of the decision.
• Evidence: “Oh, I kept the first for another day!” (Line 15) – A tinge of wistfulness about the path not taken.

·  The Role of Nature:

• Key Point: The natural world provides a setting for self-reflection and symbolizes life’s possibilities.
• Evidence: “yellow wood” (Line 1) – Creates a visual backdrop, potentially hinting at autumn and the passage of time.
• Evidence: “In leaves no step had trodden black” (Line 3) – The pristine paths represent the open, undecided future.

Literary Theories and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Essay topics, questions and thesis statements about “the road not taken” by robert frost.

Topics Focusing on Theme

• Question: To what extent does “The Road Not Taken” celebrate individuality, and to what extent does it suggest the potential drawbacks of nonconformity?
• Thesis: While “The Road Not Taken” initially seems to promote independent thinking, a closer reading reveals a wistful tone suggesting a hidden cost to always choosing the path less traveled.
• Question: How does Frost portray the complexities of decision-making, and how does the speaker grapple with the possibility of regret?
• Thesis: Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” explores the inevitability of regret, demonstrating how even choices rooted in individuality carry the bittersweet echo of paths untaken.
• Question: How does Frost use natural imagery to symbolize broader themes of life, choice, and the passage of time?
• Thesis: In “The Road Not Taken,” Frost employs the natural world not just as a setting but as a central metaphor. The diverging paths represent life’s choices, and the vibrant imagery underscores the weight of these decisions.

Topics Focusing on Literary Aspects

• Question: How does Frost use ambiguity to create a poem that invites multiple interpretations?
• Thesis: The enduring popularity of “The Road Not Taken” stems from its intentional ambiguity; Frost crafts a poem open to various readings, inviting the reader to project their own experiences onto its themes.
• Question: How does Frost’s use of sound devices (e.g., alliteration, repetition) contribute to the poem’s overall meaning and effect on the reader?
• Thesis: Frost’s careful use of sound devices in “The Road Not Taken” adds lyrical quality while subtly reinforcing the poem’s themes; for example, the repeated “and” mirrors the speaker’s hesitant thought process.

Topics Linking Theory to the Poem

• Question: How does Reader-Response theory explain the widespread misinterpretation of “The Road Not Taken” as a purely celebratory poem about individuality?
• Thesis: Popular readings of “The Road Not Taken” reveal how readers often project a desire for empowerment onto the text, overlooking subtle hints of regret that create a more nuanced meaning.

Short Question-Answer about “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Literary works similar to “the road not taken” by robert frost.

• “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost:
•  Shares a focus on solitary contemplation within a natural setting. Both poems explore the allure of pausing one’s journey and diverging from the expected path, highlighting the tensions between societal expectations and individual desires.
• “Choose Something Like a Star” by Robert Frost: Emphasizes the importance of striving towards ambitious goals. This aligns with the message in “The Road Not Taken” that choosing the path less traveled can lead to a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
• Short Stories:
• “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges: This complex narrative explores a concept of infinite realities branching from each decision made. It resonates with the theme in Frost’s poem that every choice alters the course of our lives.
• “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig: Presents a protagonist who experiences alternate lives based on different choices. This emphasizes the profound impact of decisions and explores the potential for longing for the paths not taken, a core concept within “The Road Not Taken.”

Key Points of Similarity:

• The Centrality of Choice: These works all delve into the weight of decision-making and the lasting impact our choices have on our life trajectories.
• Contemplation of Paths Untaken: They tap into the universal human fascination with potential alternate lives and the lingering sense of “what if” that accompanies our decisions.
• Symbolic Journeys: Like Frost, many of these authors employ the metaphor of roads, paths, or journeys to represent broader life experiences and the choices we make along the way.

Suggested Readings: “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Scholarly articles.

• Explores recurring themes and stylistic features of Frost’s poetry, which can inform analysis of “The Road Not Taken.”
• A biographical and critical study, potentially offering insights into Frost’s mindset when composing the poem and how it fits within his larger body of work.
• Axelrod, Steven Gould. “The Poetry of Robert Frost.” Twentieth Century Literature , vol. 35, no. 4, 1989, pp. 498–514. JSTOR , [www.jstor.org/stable/441554]
• Look for the text of “The Road Not Taken” and potential critical essays or background information related to the poem.
• Search for Robert Frost’s profile to find biographical information and whether they have specific resources on “The Road Not Taken.”

Related posts:

• “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray
• “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
• “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy: Analysis
• “The Lady of Shalott” by Lord Tennyson: Analysis

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Penguin Press, 2015

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Christopher spaide, more online by christopher spaide.

• “Nihilism, Shmihilism”
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The Road Not Taken

By david orr, reviewed by christopher spaide.

For a half century, Robert Frost has been the most unavoidable of American poets: the nation’s inaugural inaugural poet, laureate of swinging birches and snowy evenings, a fixture as essential to the middle-school classroom as the chalkboard. He has also been our most defended poet: Frost’s respectable partisans, among them Lionel Trilling, Randall Jarrell, Joseph Brodsky, and Paul Muldoon, have insisted that we look more closely at the true Frost, a poet less lovely, more dark and deep, than the Frost we were taught to love. “The Other Frost” (to quote the title of a Jarrell essay) is not a populist, apparently patriotic bard, but a modernist whom you might call (depending on whose Frost you’re meeting) coy, playful, mischievous, malevolent, an unsparing skeptic (if not an atheist), or an unappeasable pessimist (if not a downright nihilist). These corrective lenses have scandalized casual readers, but they utterly delighted Frost: when, at Frost’s eighty-fifth birthday dinner, Trilling shocked guests by toasting Frost as “a terrifying poet,” Frost responded with a thank-you note: “You made my birthday party a surprise party.”

The latest defense of Frost—the longest, most publicized, and most extravagantly subtitled to date—is David Orr’s The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong . Orr is a pithy, pushy poetry columnist for the New York Times Book Review , and the author of one previous book, Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry (2011). On face, The Road Not Taken looks like that earlier book, which performed a particular service for a particular audience: if you’ve always wanted to vacation to that foreign destination called Poetry, but simply don’t have the time, Orr’s travel guide will save you the trouble by condensing all that beautiful, pointless sightseeing into 200 pages. (This is Orr’s metaphor: in its introduction, Beautiful & Pointless analogizes modern poetry with Belgium, a beautiful and pointless country.)

But Orr’s new book is far subtler, stranger, and more subversive than his last, a how-to that admits defeat page after page, a manual for the uninitiated which never dumbs down or tidies up its unsettling suggestions. Orr has written the rare book on poetry that does not discriminate between audiences: newcomers and experts, Americans and Belgians, This Frost or the Other Frost, you or me or Orr. Why? We’re all wrong.

Orr’s Frost evolves into an unmanageable poet, but he starts off as something simple: the author of “The Road Not Taken,” a poem whose ubiquity goes without saying. Orr says it anyway, finding the poem’s deep cultural seepage in Ford commercials, rap lyrics, journalistic clichés, “one of the foundational texts of modern self-help” ( The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth ), and over four hundred books “on subjects ranging from political theory to the impending zombie apocalypse.” (Orr overlooks the prevalence of the phrase “the road less traveled” in America’s sex columns ; his arguments suffer accordingly.) Whether or not you’ve actively tried to memorize this poem, you likely have its best-known phrases stored in your vocabulary. Or you know its moves, its progression of steps forth and looks back, the way you half remember a joke: a man walks into a yellow wood, two roads diverge, he chooses “the one less traveled by,” that makes all the difference, America-brand individualism wins again.

The punch line, Orr reveals, is that the road “less traveled by” apparently wasn’t: worn down by passersby “really about the same,” both roads “that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black.” Take these lines literally, and the speaker’s sonorous conclusion—“I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference”—sounds less like measured stock-taking than an after-the-fact justification. For champions of the Other Frost (and for Frost himself), “The Road Not Taken” is a dark joke at the expense of a self-deluding speaker—as Orr articulates the position: “The poem isn’t a salute to can-do individualism; it’s a commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of our own lives.” But Orr is too hesitant, too baffled, to fix the poem with one definitive reading, whether as “a paean to triumphant self-assertion” or as that paean’s wicked parody. Oscillating between extremes, “The Road Not Taken” ceases to be about a particular choice and becomes “about the necessity of choosing that somehow, like its author, never makes a choice itself—that instead repeatedly returns us to the same enigmatic, leaf-shadowed crossroads.”

Orr is not the first reader to complicate Frost’s greatest hit: see books on and by Frost , reviews of those books , even Orange Is the New Black . Orr makes his most original points, and finds his winningly self-skeptical voice, in the book’s four central chapters. All four work as discrete lessons on how to break into almost any poem; all four fail, exasperatingly but instructively, at cracking “The Road Not Taken.” In “The Poet,” Orr introduces a man as indecipherable as his best-known poem, obscured by biased biographers, adulatory defenders, and his own designing performance as America’s sour, lovable, libertarian sage (a role the culture now fills with Ron Swanson). In “The Poem,” Orr relates how “The Road Not Taken” was misunderstood by its very first reader and dedicatee, the English critic-poet Edward Thomas, and finds openings for that misunderstanding throughout the poem, from its title (which road wasn’t taken, and by whom?) to its final word. In the trendily interdisciplinary “The Choice,” Orr turns the poem into a case study for contemporary sociology, philosophy, marketing, and even neuroscience (Frost’s two roads map comfortably onto the brain’s left and right hemispheres). And in “The Chooser,” Frost’s poem serves as confirmation for two mutually exclusive notions of American personhood, the self as moment-to-moment construction and the self as wholesale discovery.

By now, Orr has perfected strategies for exposing poetry to new audiences. His deftest is a bait and switch: he gives airtime to outsider assumptions (“Poets, we assume, are not popular—at least after 1910 or so”) and hard-to-gauge truisms (“Poetry has always oscillated between guardedness and fervor”) only to second-guess, backtrack, uncover exceptions. Orr’s off-topic jokiness, which spurs the taut comic routines of his journalism (and, unchecked in Beautiful & Pointless , produces a dinner full of dad jokes), is absent, replaced by a single-minded drive to let no easy reading stand. The result is not only a compilation of brilliant explanations for non-experts, on topics both poetic and not—Frost’s metrical theory of “the sound of sense,” or “the border of determinism and free will”—but also “a guide to modern poetry” far more welcoming, more wide-ranging, than Orr’s first book.

It’s also wrong—“wrong” in the way Orr’s subtitle informs us that “almost everyone” is wrong, subject to unacknowledged biases, overinflated claims, indigestible self-contradiction. As the book progresses, “The Road Not Taken” builds up into everything and nothing: on one page, it “captures the difficult essence of American experience”; on the next, it’s a funhouse of deception and distortion. Frost comes across as the century’s most prescient thinker, encoding contemporary philosophy and psychology into gnomic lines, but also as a modernist supervillain, bent on deceiving all audiences, himself included. That Orr never even tries to resolve these contradictions is not a demerit but this book’s great unspoken lesson. The further you get into “The Road Not Taken,” or any inexhaustible poem, the notion of any one unequivocally “right” reading seems more and more like an illusion. Depending on how you view it, Orr’s shrewd guide will teach you how to read Frost in many “right” ways, or how to read him spectacularly wrong. Thankfully, it doesn’t make a difference.

Published on April 29, 2016

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The Main Message in Robert Frost’s The Road not Taken

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58 The Road Not Taken Essay Topics & Examples

With good The Road Not Taken essay questions and topics, you won’t have problems with exploring the poem’s themes and symbolism. Our experts have provided some titles and paper examples for you to check.

🏆 Best The Road Not Taken Essay Topics & Examples

📌 most interesting the road not taken essay questions & topics, 👍 good research topics about the road not taken.

• Robert Frost’s Writing Style Essay The leading theme of the poem is the non-conformist ideas of the author, the problem of life choice, and the dilemma in making the right decision.
• The Road Not Taken In “The Road Not Taken”, the poet uses a reflective tone to address the significance of the choices one makes in life. The “road” referred to by the speaker is the most prominent symbol in […]
• Comparing Robert Frost’s Poems: The Road Not Taken and A Question Hence, the leading aspects and themes discussed in both poems are associated with the difficulties in decision-making, influence of life experience on the choices, and consequences of our actions.
• “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost The analysis helps to understand the message of the poem and realize the author’s vision of the world. The euphony facilitates the process of absorbing into the poem, and allows to experience with the narrator […]
• “The Road Not Taken” by Richard Frost Therefore, the speaker has to take one of the roads and live with the consequences of taking that road. Furthermore, the speaker has no control of what may happen to his life in the path […]
• Contradiction and Ambiguity in Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” The author expresses himself and justifies the choice using metaphors in the first two lines. In the last stanza, he posits that “I will be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages […]
• “The Road Not Taken” Poem by Robert Frost This is the individual we can identify as the poetic persona or the person who is doing the speaking in the poem.
• Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” Poem Explication The title captures the attention of the reader by arousing curiosity to find out about this road that is not taken, and ultimately, the poem addresses this issue by talking about the road and its […]
• The Poems “Cinderella” by Anne Sexton and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost A girl’s shoe got stuck on the steps he had covered with glue and he went out looking for her. Cinderella fit into the shoe and got married to the prince.
• “The Road Not Taken” by Frost Robert Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” at the beginning of the 1900s to underline the difficulty of choices that people have to make. Symbols make it possible to develop the reader’s imagination, and alliteration […]
• “The Road Not Taken” and “When Death Comes” Poems Comparison And if one was to consider the idea of the immortality of the human soul, the possibility of the afterlife and the certitude of our physical death, life becomes an affair of profound perplexity; and […]
• Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” Literature Analysis There are a lot of different interpretations of Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” that it is easy to appear in the situation that one cannot understand what the poems are about.
• “The Road Not Taken” by Frost: A Poem Review The beginning of the 20th century is a time for the world to search for new ways of development, so the poem makes sense of choice.
• “The Raven” and “The Road Not Taken” by Poe and Frost The poem impugns the immortality of the soul, and this makes it revolutionary by the standards of that time.”The Road Not Taken” depicts the challenges faced by any individual who must make a choice.
• “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost: Advice for Life As Bellah points out, the title of the poem is “The Road Not Taken” rather than “The Road Less Taken”, which provides the first clue as to the author’s original intentions and a different reading […]
• Symbolism in Ozymandias by P.B. Shelley, The Sick Rose by W. Blake, The Road Not Taken by R. Frost Through the use of these symbols, Shelley intends to communicate to the audience the extent of the destruction of the statue.
• Choosing Between Two Paths in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• Use of Nature in “The Road Not Taken”
• Symbolism, Imagery, and Theme of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Journey an Exploration of a Worn Path and “The Road Not Taken”
• The Role of Outside Sources in Understanding Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Uncertainty of Life in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• An Overview of the Concept of Good and Bad in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• Significant Decisions: A Comparison of “The Road Not Taken” and “The Choice”
• The Realm of Uncertainty in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Picture of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Struggle With Choices in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Theme of Nature in “The Road Not Taken” and Symbolism in “Stopping by Woods” by Robert Frost
• Choosing the Right Path in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Notion of Choice in Literary Works “The Kite Runner,” “The Road Not Taken,” and “Regret”
• The Idea of Making Decisions in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Wrong Choice in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Use of Symbolism and Imagery to Portray the Theme of Choice in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Regretful Traveler in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Principles of the Choices as Portrayed in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• Literary Analysis of the Poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Three Ages in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• Analyses and Opinions on the Poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• Finding the Happiness in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Opportunities and Impact of the Journeys in “The China Coin,” “Through Australian Eyes,” and “The Road Not Taken”
• The Theme of Individuality in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Reflections of Nature in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Religious Purpose in “The Road Not Taken,” “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost
• The Huge Misunderstanding of “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost
• “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• The Different Interpretations of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• How Does Punctuation Create Meaning in “The Road Not Taken”
• The Strong Sense of Regret for Choosing the Wrong Path in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• Narration and Description in Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Importance of Physical Journey in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• Metaphors, Imagery, and Personification in “The Road Not Taken”
• The Importance of Decision to Achieve the Goals in Life in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• Choices and Consequences in Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Literary Techniques Used by Robert Frost in “The Road Not Taken”
• The Importance of Making the Best Decisions in Everyday Situations Depicted in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Importance of Each Decision in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
• The Question of Choice Presented in the Poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
• Comparison and Contrast Between “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Road Not Taken”
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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The Irony of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”

The following sample poetry essay is 2532 words long, in mla format, and written at the undergraduate level. it has been downloaded 6948 times and is available for you to use, free of charge., send via email.

Robert Frost was a celebrated American poet who was born in the latter part of the 1800s and died in the 1960s. He became the most celebrated poet of his time. The Academy of American Poets summarized Frost’s work: “The author of searching and often dark meditations on universal themes, he is a quintessentially modern poet in his adherence to language as it is actually spoken, in the psychological complexity of his portraits, and in the degree to which his work is infused with layers of ambiguity and irony” (para. 4). The most famous of his works is “The Road Not Taken” and has provided future generations with flawless use of irony as a literary instrument. As the poem describes a poet at a fork in the road, the poem itself can be interpreted in two equally strong manners. However, it is the irony in the last stanza that leads to the true interpretation of the poem. This essay examines Frost's "The Road Not Taken," providing supporting evidence from the poem to prove it is not about taking a "less traveled by" road in life but rather choosing a road and living with the decision, and explaining the irony in the last stanza.   

Frost was known for his masterful use of irony in his works. “The Road Not Taken” is a demonstration of the use of irony in the last stanza. But first, in order to understand Frost’s use of irony, one must first define irony. Following the definition of irony will be a stanza by stanza analysis of the poem; the poem will be interpreted in terms of the life events in Frost’s life. Following this analysis is an explanation of how each point expresses the true sentiment of the poem - choosing a road and living with the decision. The discussion will then focus upon the irony in the last stanza and how the irony supports the points made in the first stanzas. 

According to Oxford Dictionaries, irony is defined as “the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.” In other words, the underlying meaning , the hidden meaning, is the heart of the use of irony in poetry. It is not plainly stated. The following analysis of the last stanza will reveal Frost’s use of irony, followed by a discussion of how the poem is about making a choice and living with that decision.

To understand the use of irony in the last paragraph and how the poem really is about making a choice and living by that choice, the poem must be appraised in its entirety.  The poem, “The Road Not Taken”, is reproduced below for ease of reference, and will be used for the rest of this analysis:

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 (Frost 1).

The poem is a reflection of one of life’s many sources of conflict, the time when a decision will alter the outcome of one’s life forever. Frost is relaying this conflict through the symbolism of a fork in a path leading through the woods. The poem’s meaning is often misunderstood as taking the road “less traveled by”, as the last stanza expresses. However, if one examines the poem in its entirety, the poem is about making a decision and living by that decision. 

The poet is describing himself at a crossroads, considering two courses, one seeming just as attractive as another. He does not have any way of knowing which of the two roads will be better or worse. He regrets having to leave one choice one behind, as he expressed in stanza one, “and sorry I could not travel both”. 

The poet examines each road. One is overgrown, and the other, although not yet trampled upon, is described as grassier, more open, and less arduous, almost as if it was created for travel, as expressed in stanza two: “Because it was grassy and wanted wear”. 

It might seem as if the two roads are different in the eyes of the poet. Rather, the poet goes through efforts to express that the roads are the same to him. While the description of the two roads is divergent, one leading into the undergrowth of the yellow forest, and one path beckoning for travelers because of its ease of passage, the feelings of the author is what establishes these two roads as equivalent. The author expresses sorrow that he cannot travel both roads, indicating that both seem equally attractive to him – “And sorry I could not travel both”. The passage conveys that one was equally attractive as the other. He peers down the road with the overgrowth, but then travels down the clearer road with fewer obstacles in it, as he stated “Then took the other, as just as fair”. 

One could be tricked into thinking that the grassier path with fewer obstacles is then more attractive to the poet, but one has to analyze the second stanza critically in order to realize that one path is still no more attractive than the other. When the poet states, “And having perhaps the better claim, / Because it was grassy and wanted wear”, the poet expressed that the path does seem inviting because of its clear path, and it could be considered the more attractive to some. However, when the poet stated, “Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same,” in stanza two, and in stanza three, stated “And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black”, the poet is expressing that the two have not been traveled upon by him yet, and both laid before him, equally. His path to him was not clear. Both were equal in his eyes, and he had to choose which path to follow. 

In stanza three, the poet acknowledges that if he took one path, his life circumstances would probably not lead him back to where he started. He seems to be able to appreciate the poignancy of this moment and the fact that his choice in which direction he will take will change his life forever; or would it? 

The misinterpretation of the poem usually stems from the following verse: “I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” Upon examining the poem in its entirety, the poet’s true intention for the poem becomes obvious. This is also where the irony lies in the poem. 

To this point, the reader has an idea of the attitude of the poet. What the poet so painstakingly established in the previous stanzas cannot be bypassed. The poet is faced with a decision. One is equally attractive as the other, yet making a decision to follow one or the other will affect the rest of his life. Yet, one cannot ignore the differentiation of the description of the two paths. One might at first think of this divergence as one path being more attractive over the other or one path being easier over the other, with fewer obstacles and a clearer path. The poet even made a statement in the last stanza that he took the path less traveled, and it has made all the difference. 

Another point becomes obvious in examining the first three stanzas. While one can observe that the poem is about describing a common conflict in life, one can see from the language and expression of the poet that a conflict does not lie within him. He expressed regret about not being able to take both paths. Yet, the poet also expresses knowledge, and within the expression of knowledge lays the attitude of the poet. While he was sorry he could not travel both, and he examined both paths, he acknowledges both are equal. Moreover, he stated definitively in the third stanza, with exclamation and all, “Oh, I kept the first for another day! / Yet knowing how way leads to way, I doubted if I should ever come back”. He knows that he will never be able to revisit that moment and do it over again. 

In the last stanza, the first two lines convey a certain attitude: “I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence: / Two roads diverged in a wood”. The poet is sighing, for the reasoning is unknown. Maybe he’s wistful that he didn’t take the other path, as so many interpret, because of his regret for not being able to take both paths in the first few stanzas. Maybe he’s belittling the fact that he made such a big deal and wrestled with himself over the decision. He seems to be criticizing his own behavior, going on and on about this big decision he made, where it really wasn’t a big deal at all, when he stated, “two roads diverged in a wood” as if he were saying, yes, so what? I was faced with a decision and I made a decision to try something new. It could be that he felt someone else’s behavior was tiresome, always wondering ‘what if’ when he took that path, always looking backward and regretting having to give up one path for the other.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the poet is stating that he didn’t take the road less traveled just because he wanted to forge ahead into uncharted territory for the sake of taking a more arduous path, or taking a path of independence, as it is so often misinterpreted by those who only take the poem at face value. For instance, one could easily interpret the difference having a positive connotation to it, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. The “difference” the poet refers to in the poem is just choosing one choice over the other. If he chose the first choice, the path with grass upon it and easier to walk upon, the more established path is it would have still made a difference, which is the impact upon his life. This would be appropriate if one were to take the poem at face value without examining the underlying intricacies of the poem.

The irony in the last line in the last verse is what conveys the true meaning of the poem. When Frost stated “I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference”, it is apparent from the pains the poet took to establish both paths being equal that they were no different. It could easily be taken at face value, interpreting that the road less traveled means striking out independently, and that is the central theme of the poem. But if one considers what Frost first establishes in the stanza and in the poem, that two equal roads diverged in the woods, and he made his decision to go down one of the paths, two equal roads are not different. Therein lies the irony of the poem.

Even while interpreting this irony, some still feel the poem is about pursuing independence because of the sigh. Or some could interpret the sigh as regret. However, there are hints as to the poet’s intention to convey that one should not be obsessed over which path to take in life. If both paths are equal, it actually makes no difference which path one takes. It might alter the journey slightly and provide different experiences in life, but in the end, it’s all the same. Perhaps the sigh does reflect an expression of weariness of people’s tendencies to worry over the ‘what ifs’ in life, instead of going forward with one path and being satisfied, rather than always looking back with a twinge of regret.

It is easy to see why Frost was considered “The American Bard” (The Academy of American Poets, para. 5). His poetry can be appreciated on many levels. “The Road Not Taken” can be taken for its lyrical qualities on face value. Yet, if one is to interpret the poem and go deeper, the poem can easily be interpreted in two different ways. Not only are there the two paths described by Frost, but also the two paths for interpretation for the poem, both equally as strong. However, it’s the irony at the end, “that makes all the difference,” which truly reflects the poet’s intentions on how to interpret the poem. 

If one is to examine the events of Frost’s life alone, the irony that he had to move to England to be a well-loved American poet is under-appreciated. Also, the irony in the last verse is not lost when one considers the importance of this poem to American literature. Most likely, it was unknown to Frost at the time that he would hold such an important place in the history of American literature. The irony in the last stanza, “I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence”, is ironic only in hindsight. For ages, Robert Frost’s poems have been shared with every single student, so in a way, his poem is speaking to children for ages and ages, describing the fork in the road in the middle of the woods and his choice to travel the road “less traveled by”. 

Perhaps this is why Robert Frost was so good at irony. He was able to appreciate it in his own life first before writing upon it. This is the reason why Robert Frost will continue to be an important and indispensable part of American literature. One can appreciate his work at face value, and perhaps it really does have meaning at face value, championing the independent, American spirit. 

What makes this poem so well-loved is its many ways of interpretation, each equally as virulent, just like the two wooded paths in the poem. Making choices is part of life. One can sigh, wistfully longing for paths not taken, or one can make a choice and live by that choice with a clear conscience. It is apparent within this interpretation that Frost determines to live by his decisions without regret.

Works Cited

The Academy of American Poets. Robert Frost. Poets.org, 2013. Web. 29 August 2013.

Frost, Robert. Mountain Interval. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920. Print. 

Oxford Dictionaries. Definition of Irony in English. 2013. Web. 29 August 2013.

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Theme of the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’: IELTS essay

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Updated on 27 June, 2023

Mrinal Mandal

Study abroad expert.

The International English Language Testing System or IELTS is an English language proficiency test taken for study, migration, or work. Theme of the poem  ‘The Road Not Taken’  IELTS essay is one of the common topics in the IELTS writing section. Writing a theme of a poem can elucidate the creativity you have and the extent your thoughts can travel. Since poems are an inspiration from real life. Therefore it is necessary to arrange your thoughts and relate them to the lines of the poem’s theme.

Table of Contents

• The theme of the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’: Sample 1
• The theme of the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’: Sample 2

Frequently Asked Questions

Read more resources related to essays topics:, the theme of the poem  ‘the road not taken’:  sample 1.

The Road Not Taken , a poem by Robert Frost has been structured in a contemplative and introspective tone. Through this creative piece, the poet has showcased the universal truth in an appreciable way which has moulded it into a more engaging piece.

The central theme around which the poem swirls is a fact demonstrating that another name for life is preferences. As humans, the potential and privilege to choose from two options is a boon, but some choices may not be as good as others and vice-versa. Every choice that we make defines our future. Therefore, solicitous and correct picks must be the utmost priority of every individual. 

The profound intellect and maturity of the poet are symbolized by the choice of metaphors in the poem. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”; here, roads are a metaphor harnessed to depict life. Each stanza of the poem unfolds a new thought, similar to how life unfurls itself by giving us options to choose. Each choice once made leads to yet another diverged road showcasing that decision-making is an unending life event, depicted by the line “way leads on to way.”

This poem discusses some facts about life that most people deny accepting. This may be out of fear of making hard choices:

∙  Existence is an expedition with diverse pathways to choose from.

∙  Every other path will lead to a new choice 

∙  The tough choices may not consummate into an expected result.

A sense of uncertainty emanates with every choice made. In the end, the poet indicates no matter how contemplative one is, one will have to live with the choices made. Hence, it is best to embrace the impacts and move on. 

Tentative band score: 6, 

Total word count: 286

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The theme of the poem  ‘The Road Not Taken’:  Sample 2

Robert Frost wrote the poem  ‘The Road Not Taken’ in August 1915, which discusses how individuals come to a point where they have to make decisions that can be the harbinger of significant life changes. The most relatable theme of the poem,  ‘The Road Not Taken’ is its realistic thought that is omnipresent in human trajectory- Decision making and its outcome!

Frost indicates that the two roads at the point of divergence lead to a destination and may unfold a diversity of emotions. It can be sorrow or delight, but decision-making remains imperative. 

Further, the poem reflects that Frost chose the less traveled path as the line 'Because it was grassy' indicates, showing uncut grass and hence, fewer travelers to walk on. Also, the lines 'then took the other, as just as fair', reveal that the less traveled road claims have better results. However, the word 'perhaps' shows no clarity of how the decision is unveiled.

The lines 'Oh, I marked the first for another day!' reiterates that Frost has decided to travel the first path another day. The theme revolves around the fact that human life is eventful owing to the incessant decisions one needs to make. Just as the poet steps on the less traveled road, he mentions how he again had to choose to take the next step or go back and was filled with curiosity.  

In the concluding paragraph, the poet has not clarified whether the untrodden path was a discovery or a setback. But it certainly exhibits that the poet has no regret in walking the uncommon path. 

Tentative band score: 6 

Total word count: 265

What is the theme of the poem? Is it describing the paragraphs and their meaning?

The theme of the poem shows the central idea on which the entire poetry is written. A theme of a poem is the very foundational thought that is recapitulated everywhere in the poem through some lines.

How do we decide what parts to write about in describing the theme?

Once you know the theme of the poem, you can write the lines that you think talk about it. The lines you pick from the poem need to be justified and aligned with the theme of the poem.

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Critical Analysis Of The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken is a poem by Robert Frost that was published in 1916. The poem is about making choices and the consequences that come with those choices. The speaker in the poem is faced with two roads, and he has to choose which one to take. The speaker chooses the road less traveled, and this choice changes his life.

The Road Not Taken is a short poem, but it is very powerful. The poem speaks to the human condition of making choices. We are constantly faced with choices, and we have to decide which path to take. The speaker in the poem makes a choice that is not easy, but it is the right choice for him. The poem shows us that making the right choice can be difficult, but it is worth it in the end.

Every individual is compelled to make decisions throughout their life. This portion of existence is true for everyone, regardless of time or cultural barriers. It’s a reality of human nature. People are given a variety of alternatives. Some, though not all, are considerably more significant than others. Individuality is defined by the decisions individuals make. These choices have a profound influence on one’ s destiny. The Robert Frost poem “the road not taken,” which employs symbolism to explain this part of human existence, is timeless and exquisite.

The poem is about a person who comes to a crossroad in life and is unsure of which path to take. The narrator takes the road less traveled by and finds that it was the better decision, because it led him to an improved destination. The narrator makes it clear that this choice was not easy to make, but it was worth it in the end. The poem reflects on the idea that people regret the choices they did not make more then the ones they did make. This is because people are constantly presented with opportunities in life and most of them are unique.

The saying “life is what you make it” is very relevant when discussing this poem. The protagonist in Frost’s poem made a choice, and that choice improved his life. The protagonist is a symbol for all people. The poem is about the journey, not the destination. The lessons learned on the road are more important then the destination itself. The narrator in this poem is relatable because he is human and has made choices that were difficult to make.

The poem recounts a travel narrative in which a person arrives at a crossroads where he is presented with two options. In lines 4-7, the man describes these routes. The two options he is torn between are represented symbolically by the two roads that directly represent life’s decisions. One of the ways is one in which he may look down and view the entire road to “where it bent beneath the bushes.” This way, life’s easy route out, is more frequented and predictable than any other way we know of.

The other road is much more overgrown, and he cannot see as far down it. The author describes this path as “just as fair”, but “wanted wear”. This path represents the tougher decisions in life that aren’t taken as often because they are more challenging. The speaker seems to be at a crossroads in his life where he has to make a decision of which way to go.

He is hesitant and worried about making the wrong choice, so he decides to take the less popular path. The poem suggests that taking the less popular, tougher route in life will pay off in the end despite being harder because it will make you unique. The poem also promotes being an individual and not following the crowd.

The speaker in the poem says “I took the one less traveled by”, which suggests that he is not a follower, but rather someone who takes their own path and makes their own decisions. The poem concludes with the idea that this decision will make all the difference. The speaker says “that has made all the difference”, which suggests that because he took the tougher road, his life turned out much better than if he had taken the easy way out.

If you take this road, the conclusion is foregone and the traveler can relax with confidence that his life is taking him in the direction he wishes for it to go. Everyone in life has a more typical route. Many people believe that the world is divided into leaders and followers.

The followers follow this path because it is the popular and simple way of attaining modest objectives. The alternative, on the other hand, is covered in tall grasses with few track marks or footprints. This is where the author decides to go, which I feel gives interesting insights into his personality.

The first thing to notice is that the writer chooses the road less traveled. The title of this poem, The Road Not Taken, suggests that the speaker is faced with a choice between two roads. The path he chooses will have an impact on his life. The speaker has come to a crossroads and must decide which way to go.

The decision is not an easy one because both roads are equally attractive. The speaker takes some time to think about his options before making a choice. This shows that he is a careful thinker who does not make rash decisions. The speaker is also open-minded and willing to take risks. He knows that the road less traveled may be more difficult, but he is willing to take it it could lead to new and exciting experiences.

The second thing to notice is that the journey is important to the speaker. The road he chooses will determine where he goes and what he does. The speaker is not just looking for an easy way to get from Point A to Point B. He wants to find a road that will challenge him and make him grow as a person. The third thing to notice is that the speaker is confident in his decision.

In conclusion, the poem encourages taking the tougher path in life despite it being more challenging because it will pay off in the end and make you unique. It also promotes being an individual and not following the crowd. The poem suggests that making your own decisions is what will make all the difference in your life.

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CCEA GCSE Identity Poetry: The Road not Taken by Robert Frost

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

31 March 2024

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Powerpoint Analysis for poem included in the CCEA GCSE English Literature Identity Poetry Anthology.

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