The road he selects is ‘the one less traveled by,’ suggesting the decision of an individualist, someone little not inclined to follow the crowd.Īlmost immediately, however, he seems to contradict his own judgment: “ Though as for that the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same.” The poet appears to imply that the decision is based on evidence that is, or comes close to being, an illusion The contradictions continue. The traveler comes to a fork in a road through a ‘yellow wood’ and wishes he could somehow manage to ‘travel both’ routes he rejects that aspiration as impractical, however, at least for the day at hand. The first significant thing about ‘The Road Not Taken’ is its title, which presumably refers to an unexercised option, something about which the speaker can only speculate.

Our natural desire to know what will happen because of the decisions we make is in the first stanza of the poem: Frost captures the uncertainty about making decisions. Think of the expression, ‘down the road’, that we often use to describe something that might happen months or even years from now, and you will see how Frost is making the connection between life and traveling. The narrator’s choice about which road to take represents the different decisions we sometimes must make and how those decisions will affect the future.

The two roads diverged in a yellow wood forest symbolizing a person’s life. ‘The Road Not Taken’ is more than a poem about someone trying to decide which road he’s going to take on a stroll through the woods. The poet beautifully leaves this to the imagination of the readers Ambiguity is one of the striking features of Frost in poetry. However, the line “… And that has made all the difference” is not clear. It can lead to a great discovery, success, prosperity, or happiness. A small courageous step makes a big difference. Here “sigh” should not be taken as regret. The phrase “some were ages and age hence” refers to a distant future. The chief theme of his poetry is an ambiguous relationship with nature. The poem inspires us to face the challenging realities in life. The poem makes us think about choice we must make in life.Īll of us reach a crucial point in life when we must make the right choice. We should always have the courage to choose the right way even if it is rough and thorny. Here conflict is between the right choice and wrong choice. The striking feature of Frosts’ poems is the presentation of conflicts. It seems to be a characteristic of Robert Frost to express doubt while making revolutionary decisions. He says that perhaps he may use the more conventional path sometime in future, but it is not possible to start the journey afresh.

Road not taken summary