Essay/Term paper: The road not taken

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Book Reports

The Road Not Taken - an analysis "Do not follow where the

path may lead... Go instead where there is no path and leave

a trail." -Robert Frost Everyone is a traveler, choosing the

roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life.

There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole

direction in which to head. Regardless of the original

message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his

poem, "The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many

different interpretations. It is one"s past, present and the

attitude with which he looks upon his future that determines

the shade of the light that he will see the poem in. In any

case however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost"s belief

that it is the road that one chooses that makes him the man

who he is. "And sorry I could not travel both..." It is always

difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not to

wonder about the opportunity cost, what will be missed out

on. There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is

even made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it

is impossible to travel down every path. In an attempt to

make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I

could". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown,

as does any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to

see as far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his

vision and he can never see where it is going to lead. It is the

way that he chooses here that sets him off on his journey and

decides where he is going. "Then took the other, just as fair,

and having perhaps the better claim." What made it have the

better claim is that "it was grassy and wanted wear." It was

something that was obviously not for everyone because it

seemed that the majority of people took the other path

therefore he calls it "the road less travelled by". The fact that

the traveler took this path over the more popular, secure one

indicates the type of personality he has, one that does not

want to necessarily follow the crowd but do more of what

has never been done, what is new and different. "And both

that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden

black." The leaves had covered the ground and since the

time they had fallen no one had yet to pass by on this road.

Perhaps Frost does this because each time a person comes

to the point where they have to make a choice, it is new to

them, somewhere they have never been and they tend to feel

as though no one else had ever been there either. "I kept the

first for another day!" The desire to travel down both paths

is expressed and is not unusual, but "knowing how way

leads on to way", the speaker of this poem realizes that the

decision is not just a temporary one and he "doubted if I

should ever come back." This is his common sense speaking

and acknowledging that what he chooses now will affect

every other choice he makes afterward. Once you have

performed an act or spoken a word that crystalizes who you

are, there is no turning back, it cannot be undone. Once

again at the end of the poem the regret hangs over the

traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. He realizes that at

the end of his life, "somewhere ages and ages hence", he will

have regrets about having never gone back and traveling

down the roads he did not take. Yet he remains proud of his

decision and he recognizes that it was this path that he chose

that made him turn out the way and he did and live his life

the way in which he lived. "I took the road less trvaeled by

and that had made all the difference." To this man, what was

most important, what really made the difference, is that he

did what he wanted, even if it meant taking the road less

traveled. If he hadn"t, he wouldn"t be the same man he is

now. There are many equally valid meanings to this poem

and Robert Frost may have intended this. He may have been

trying to achieve a universal understanding. In other words,

there is no judgement, no specificity, no moral. There is

simply a narrator who makes a decision in his life that had

changed the direction of his life from what it may ahve

otherwise been. It allows all readers from all different

experiences to relate to the poem.