Imagine if a small 'in-joke' you had with a friend went on to become one of the most popular poems in American literary history. That's what happened to the American poet Robert Frost (1874–1963).
During his time in England, Robert Frost became a close friend of Welsh-English war poet Edward Thomas. The pair would take long walks out in the countryside together, during which Thomas would often regret not taking a different path. Frost penned 'The Road Not Taken' (1916) as a little creative joke about his friend's indecisiveness, but it received more of a response than he initially bargained for.
Fig. 1 - Robert Frost's poems focus on themes of nature, isolation, and the human condition.
Robert Frost: 'The Road Not Taken'
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet who wrote and published his works in both England and the US. Frost wasn’t an adherent of any particular poetic movement, but his imitation of natural speech in his poetry, as well as 19th-century poetic traditions reflect both a traditional and modernist influence.1
Modernism: a cultural movement between the late 19th century and the mid-20th century. Modernist literature can be characterised by its questioning of the past through experimentation and free expression.
In 1916, Frost published a collection of poems titled Mountain Interval, the first poem of which is 'The Road Not Taken'. This period marked a turning point in Frost’s poetry writing career as his style changed from lengthy dialogues to shorter reflections on life.
'The Road Not Taken': analysis
Here's an overview of the poem to give you some background before we analyse it further.
| 'The Road Not Taken' Summary and Analysis |
| Date published | 1916 in the collection Mountain Interval |
| Author | Robert Frost (1874–1963) |
| Form | Narrative poem |
| Structure | 20 lines divided into four quintains |
| Rhyme scheme | ABAAB |
| Themes | Life decisions, regrets, and uncertainty |
| Poetic devices | Anaphora, personification, assonance |
| Summary | The poem follows a speaker who has come to a fork in the road and must choose which path to take. |
| Analysis | The poem is structured around the central metaphor of the road as a symbol of life's journey and the choices we make along the way. The narrative form of the poem allows Frost to tell a story while also exploring broader themes of decision-making, individualism, and the uncertainty of the future. |
Quintain: a stanza containing five lines of poetry.
'The Road Not Taken': poem
When reading the poem, what are your first impressions? This poem is thought to be one of the most misinterpreted poems in American literature. So, what is the 'correct' meaning? What do you think the road not taken represents? Note down your thoughts before we look at the poem's possible meaning(s) in more depth.
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.
'The Road Not Taken': summary
In the poem, 'The Road Not Taken', the speaker reflects on an archetypal problem.
Archetype: an original model of something that is used as a recurring pattern or blueprint.
Having to choose between a fork in the road or two equal options is a universal problem that features heavily throughout human culture. Therefore, we can call this dilemma an archetypal problem.
In this particular case, the speaker is walking through a wood and comes across a fork in the path. They wish they could take both paths but, as they are just one person, they must pick only one.
They decide to go with the path that looks a little more offbeat. However, they spend the rest of the walk wondering if they made the right choice. The speaker questions their initial justification for taking the path they did because the paths were worn 'really about the same'. Also, they doubt they will ever return to the other path they 'kept . . . for another day'.
In the final stanza, the speaker says that they will sigh about this decision at some point far in the future while reminiscing about their past, life-altering choice to take the path 'less traveled by'.
Fig. 2 - Two roads diverged in a yellow wood becomes the central metaphor for the speaker's journey in life.
'The Road Not Taken': themes and poetic devices
Let's analyse the poem stanza by stanza by looking at its key themes of life decisions, regrets, and uncertainty and how they are reflected in its poetic devices.
Stanza 1
The first stanza explores the speaker's frustration with their limitations. Being only one person, they couldn't choose both paths, and they could only make their decision about which path to take based on their limited view of the path before it bent out of sight.
This frustration is highlighted in the use of anaphoras.
Anaphora: the repetition of words or phrases at the start of multiple lines of poetry in close succession.
'And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could'
The repetition of 'And' at the beginning of each line reflects the speaker's almost breathless list of excuses and reasons why this decision was such a difficult one, perhaps because the speaker already knew that they would regret their choice either way.
Stanza 2
This stanza expresses the speaker's uncertainty. Although the speaker seemed to come to a reasoned decision, their mind has changed by the final two lines, and they conclude that the two paths were the same after all.
This uncertainty and resulting unwillingness to take responsibility for the decision they made is reflected in the speaker's personification of the path.
Personification: giving human characteristics to non-human things.
'Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;'
The speaker personifies the path by saying that it had the better claim. It wanted to be walked on – and they couldn't argue with that!
Stanza 3
The speaker repeats that the paths were equally worn down. There was no real reason to pick one over the other. The speaker's colloquial exclamation, 'Oh, I kept the first for another day!' reflects their inner monologue as they think about their decision and attempt to reassure themselves that they made the right one.
Colloquial: an adjective describing conversational language use.
Assonance is used in this stanza to create a sense of fluidity.
Assonance: the repetition of stressed vowel sounds in poetry
'Yet knowing how way leads on to way,'
In addition to the rhyming words 'lay' and 'day' in this stanza, the fluidity created by the assonance in this line echoes the way in which things just happen, sometimes without any conscious thought behind them. Yet, despite this, the speaker still sees the path they took as a big, life-changing decision.
The break from this assonance in the next line adds to the seriousness and finality of the 'now or never' situation. The speaker doubts whether they will ever return to that fork in the road, so hopefully, they chose the 'right' path.
Stanza 4
The speaker continues to use structures that mimic colloquial (conversational) speech.
'Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by'
The repetition of 'I' mirrors the way the speaker might repeat themselves to collect their thoughts or create a sense of drama when they tell the story about their decision in the future.
This dramatic tone reaches its peak in the poem's concluding two lines. The speaker changes their mind once again by stating resolutely that the road they took was, in fact, 'the one less traveled by' and that this choice 'has made all the difference' in their life.
Robert Frost and criticism of 'The Road Not Taken'
Although Robert Frost had initially written 'The Road Not Taken' to tease his friend Edward Thomas about his indecisiveness during their walks together, his joking tone was too subtle to be detected, and the poem was received much more seriously than originally intended.
Frost may have just wanted to make a joke about his friend making a big deal out of nothing. However, others read the poem as a comment on American individualism and the importance of 'going one's own way', especially in its very famous last two lines:
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Individualism: a value system that prioritises individuals who can think and care for themselves.
Literary critic David Orr even wrote an entire book about this interpretation of the poem, titled The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves, and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong (2015). According to Orr in his book's introduction:
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.
Instead of being a motivational poem that tells us how we should believe in ourselves and follow our dreams to succeed, Orr interprets it as a text that actually reveals how fake this narrative is. Ouch!
So, how did you read the poem? Did you read it as an encouraging pep talk, a mockery of American individualism, or just a little joke Frost played on his friend? Perhaps this lack of clarity is part of the poem's charm – it continues to be a source of discussion even today.
The Road Not Taken - Key takeaways
- 'The Road Not Taken' was written by American poet Robert Frost and published in his 1916 Mountain Interval poetry collection.
- 'The Road Not Taken' has a regular ABAAB rhyme scheme and consists of 20 lines divided into four quintains.
- 'The Road Not Taken' explores themes of life decisions, regrets, and uncertainty.
- 'The Road Not Taken' contains poetic devices, including anaphora, personification, and assonance.
- The poem has been famously dubbed one of the most misinterpreted poems in American literature.
1 'Robert Frost'. Poetry Foundation. 2022.
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