FREE ESSAY ON ROBERT FROST'S THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

ROBERT FROST'S THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

The poem "The Road Not Taken" is about the one thing that every living human being will
and does encounter, multiple times through out life, it is the miracle of being able to
choose. With that choice we must also face the fact that we can never go back and explore
the other road not taken. Some choices are easier to choose while other takes some
contemplating and time to resolve. But when it is all said and done and we have made our
choice, there is still the road we didn't choose and often times we wonder about the road
not taken.
In the first stanza is a place where two roads diverged which represents the encounter of
having to choose from two paths a direction that will dictate the rest of ones life. When
faced with decisions, man has to weigh his options carefully to make a more efficient
choice. At the split in the road, the speaker looks down both of the paths to see what
each of the paths will bring. The speaker's sight is limited; his eyes can only see the
path until it bends into "the undergrowth". This is symbolic of people trying to foresee
what each choice might bring, but our presage is limited, thus the representation of the
undergrowth. But all that is seen is that both diverge into a yellow wood and appear to
be about the same. The first of the two paths is the more common route whereas the other
less traveled path, wanted wear. In this Frost brings up the conflict of whether to take
the more easy way, the path more commonly traveled, or the way that is more complicated
and not as easy to foresee the destination in which is the road less traveled. Choosing
the already known easy path in which many people choose reassures that the outcome will
be predictable. While choosing the less traveled road represents the chance of facing a
more difficult path in life in hopes to achieve a more satisfactory life. The choice is
made after much contemplation, and the choice is to take the road less traveled. As he is
going down that road he has chosen, he still wonders and longs to travel the road not
taken. Even when he says to himself in the third stanza that he will keep the first path
for another day, he knows that he will not have the opportunity to come back, because
"way leads on to way."
We are shown in this poem that we are limited to explore all of life's different
possibilities. As in "In Hardwood Groves" we see that the only possibility for the leaves
to return is to decay into the ground yet if they could choose and would choose not to
decay then they would not be able to return. We see in the end of "The Road not Taken"
there is a sigh, a sigh that has come from years later looking back and remember the two
choices and choosing the harder one and that making all of the difference in the life
lead. Frost shows his satisfaction for enduring the uncommon route, but at the same time
he sighs with lamentation, wondering what he may have missed on the other road. As
successful life's turnouts may be, there is always regret wondering how another path
taken in life brings about other experiences and other opportunities in life. At the end
of the poem "Riders" frost says, "We have ideas yet that we haven't tried." Sometimes we
will never be able to try them and that is the road not taken.
The poem "The Road Not Taken" can be interpreted as the universal dilemma of encountering
two similar choices. In the beginning when we look at them they appear to be similar but
as time progresses and we go deeper and deeper down the path we see that they begin to
contrast each other as they go off on their separate ways. Faced with very similar
choices we try to examine what they have to offer for us, but often we are unable to see
the results. We can choose to go the common route, which is the more reliable, and have a
common life or we can pursue the less common route, which is unknown and often difficult,
and have a unique life that stands out above else. The choices we make in our life are
ultimately responsible for our future, yet at the same time we can never go back to the
past and experience other possibilities. In the end, we reflect over the decisions we
have made, and like Frost at the end of this poem, sigh, discovering they have made all
the difference".