FREE ESSAY ON THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

1998
The Road Not Taken Rather Than The Road Taken?
A Title, A Choice
The title of a poem often reflects the author's theme. In his poem The Road Not Taken
Frost's theme is about choices. He had two roads to chose from and wonders what would
have happened had he taken the other road. His title reflects this.
The first three lines, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not
travel both /And be one traveler, long I stood, tell us the narrator must choose between
two roads he finds equally appealing. It is apparent the narrator has a difficult choice
to make and is carefully considering his options. The fact that he is sorry he cannot
travel, or choose, both paves the way for regret or wonderment.
After the choice of roads is described and considered, Frost writes Oh, I kept the first
for another day! /Yet knowing how way leads on to way, /I doubted if I should ever come
back. This is where the narrator makes his choice. Here, he knows he is bound by that
choice. He wants to hold on to the other possibility, but knows this cannot be. His
choice becomes the road taken. The choice he held on to, then somberly let go, becomes
The Road Not Taken.
In the last stanza of this poem Frost writes, 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 narrator seems content with
his choice yet he tells of it with a sigh: not so much a regretful sigh but a speculative
one. He is resolving himself to the fact that even when ages and ages pass, he will still
wonder what if he had taken the other road.
This poem is about choices. But more than that, it is about the choices not made and the
idea of wondering about them. The title of this poem The Road Not taken gives us insight
to and reflects this theme.