Robert Frost’s, ‘The Road Not Taken’ is one of his most famous poems. The poem has achieved an iconic status owing to its title with people using it to describe life situations and explaining the consequences of their choices. The beauty of the poem lies in the fact that it could be taken in different ways. For those who do not know the history of the poem, the poem might sound like the poet is regretting the choice he had made in choosing one road. A bit of history would show that the poem was in fact ironic and meant to mock his friend’s indecisive nature. Whatever the meanings, the poem makes the reader think and puts him or her in a pensive mood. It is a narrative poem consisting of four stanzas. Each stanza has five lines in iambic tetrameter. Unlike the strict eight syllables that make a tetrameter, Frost’s lines in this poem has nine syllables making it hypometric by one beat. The Rhyme pattern is ABAAB. The title of this poem is not the same as the first line. In fact the title does not appear anywhere in the poem. However the whole poem is an explanation of and a lead up to the title. The title also lets the readers come to a conclusion on their own. The poet does not tell the readers what’s on his mind exactly. The poem and the title work together to let the reader come to his or her own conclusions.
In the first stanza, the poet stands in front of a forked road. Looking at the two paths created by the fork the poet stands there and feels sorry about not being able to take both the paths. He thinks long and hard about which one to take and looks closely till he can look no more. Here Frost could be talking about the actual road in front of him or the metaphorical road of life. In the first case, he could be jesting about the situation and the serious consideration given to a simple decision such as taking a road. In the latter, he could mean that serious thought must be applied before taking any decisions in life, big or small. He says he stood for long and looked as far as he could before deciding to take the other road. Frost also mentions that the woods are yellow. It could mean that the poem is set in autumn or that the poet is taking a decision in his old age when there is little chance of undoing things.
Having taken a decision in the second stanza, Frost proceeds to explain the similarities between the two roads. He talks about the first road saying that it was’ grassy and wanted wear’ but in the very next lines h says that the other road is not so dissimilar. Her again, just as in the first stanza, there could be two opposing meaning that could be taken. It could mean that the two roads are the same and that his friend is wasting precious time choosing between them. Taking either one would not make much of a difference. However a serious reading of the poem would suggest that having chosen a path, the other path would always look better. It might also look alarmingly similar, always sowing the seeds of doubt in the person’s head. In the second stanza, Frost could be easily talking about temptations in life. People always have second thoughts about the decisions they have made even if the decision is final. They always wonder about the other choice they had left behind.
The third stanza seems like a continuation of the second. Frost still talks about the two roads looking the same. However his temptation does not make him step back or think about taking the other road. He sounds philosophical, saying that taking one road would keep opening up new routes. He also says that taking the road gives no guarantee of return to try the other one but yet he chooses to go on. Taken in the literal sense, it could mean that the road he takes might lead him through a different trail in the forest and that he or his friend would be too tired to come back and try the other route. In the serious sense, the road could mean an important choice in life. It could be a degree in college that would change the course of a person’s life. Taking arts could have led to a career in media and little money while a pre med course would have meant stability and more money. Once a person has embarked on a certain path, there is no guarantee that he or she would come back to try everything in an altogether different manner.
In the last stanza, Frost talks about the future. After having taken one road, he would probably sigh and say that life could have been different if he had taken the other road. Frost is still mocking his friend in the last stanza. A sigh is an exaggerated reaction to a simple decision such as choosing a path in the morning walk. His friend’s indecisiveness is too much for frost that he exaggerates the reaction. The other serious meaning could be that the poet thinks looking back at life’s decisions would bring a certain amount of sadness to a person and that there would always linger the doubt if life could have turned out better.
Thus there could be multiple meanings lying hidden in this simple poem. It could be an ironic poem to mock the indecisiveness of his friend. It could be about the poet talking to himself as it is in the form of a narrative. Or the poet could have been in a sombre and philosophical mood, talking about life and the impacts choices have on it. It could also be a mockery of people in general and how they think that they are in the center of whatever happens to them. There are unexpected incidents in everyone’s life and a person could play absolutely no part in decision making and yet suffer as a cause. Blaming it on the bad or good choices would be placing too much importance on the self. Frost could just be saying that people should let life happen and not worry too much about choices and decision making. Frost strays a little away from the normal iambic tetrameter and this could signify the tone of the poem- the narrator taking a different path.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. The Road Not Taken. Poetry Foundation. N.d. Web. 12 Mar 2016.
