Robert Frost is best known for his rural life poetry and for the simple terminology he uses in his poems. However, the jargon of Frost’s poems might be simple but there is a profundity of depth and meaning in his poetry regarding the complexities of life.
The Road not Taken by Frost is set on a forest road on an autumn morning. Frost was tremendously inspired by the rural landscapes of Gloucestershire. When he moved to Britain in 1912, he rented a cottage over and became fast friends with Edward Thomas, another great critic, writer and a nature lover. These close friends used to take frequent walks in the lovely and mesmerizing area of Gloucestershire. When they returned from their walks, Thomas usually wished that they should have taken another route because maybe that would have been more beautiful. “Thompson documents the ironic impulse that produced the poem as Frost's "gently teasing" response to his good friend, Edward Thomas, who would in their walks together take Frost down one path and then regret not having taken a better direction” (Kearns, “On the road not Taken). The Rod not Taken can be any road but while writing the poem, frost had in his mind the “yellow woods” of Gloucestershire.
In this poem, the notion of decision making has been depicted. Whenever you have to make any decision in life, you have two options or two directions, out of which you have to opt that one which is more preferable and suitable to your needs. “Two roads diverged” presents a similar idea and the speaker had to choose one of the two roads. There is a slight remorse apparent in the speaker because he couldn’t choose the both roads as he says “And sorry I could not travel both” (Frost).
He “took the other, as just as fairand having perhaps the better claim” (Frost). Through this line, the reader gets an idea that the speaker is trying to justify his decision. But the word “perhaps” is representative of the hesitancy of the speaker.
The third stanza depicts the idea that once you take a decision, there is no going back. Once you embark on a journey, you should keep on going instead of wondering over the “what ifs” of life. “Yet knowing how way leads on to wayI doubted if I should ever come back” (Frost). These are the key verses of this stanza and shows that a person should learn to stick to his decision.
The very first line of the last stanza represents that the speaker is happy with the decision he too —“I shall be telling this with a sigh” (Frost). This sigh has a positive aura and describes the contentment of the speaker, as if a person has finally reached his destination after a long journey. “I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference” (Frost). This line is the crux of the poem. This verse is symbolic of the individuality of the speaker and also that he deviated from the norms by taking the road which was less traveled.
This poem is quite apt for the modern generation which needs to take the right decision and once they have taken a decision they should stick to it. But they should take a decision after weighing all the pros and cons instead of groping blindly at life’s strings and then waiting for a miracle to happen to make everything alright for them.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. “The Road not Taken”. Mountain Interval. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920.N.d. Web. 13 April 2012.
Kearns, Katherine. “On the Road not Taken”. Robert Frost and a Poetics of Appetite. Cambridge University Press. N.d. Web. 13 April 2012.
