The Road Not Taken Essays Example

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is frequently used as a way to justify the freedom and uniqueness that comes from going down a path that most do not take. It is held up as an example of the way in which taking one’s own path results in positive, beneficial changes in one’s life, and in the way one sees the world. However, while this poem does seem to describe an individual progressing on his or her own path, the poem’s meaning goes far deeper than that. A surface reading reveals the meaning as one about individuality, however, a deeper reading communicates the idea that it is not so much the path one chooses that matters, but the way one moves down that path. That is, it is not that one takes “the road not taken” but that one does it in one’s own way. Indeed, the poem communicates the idea that many paths are very similar, but one’s journey is, itself, different.
Looking at the surface of the poem, one might believe that it describes the differences in the road as being of primary importance. The poets uses words about differentiation, including “diverged,” and “other” to describe the differences between the paths. One path is described as having “a better claim,” meaning a better appearance to the traveler. It is also described as “want[ing] wear,” implying it had not been travelled by many. However, this is far from the central message of the poem.
Examining the poem more deeply, it becomes obvious that the paths themselves are not the central message of the piece. The poet says, clearly, that they are very similar in the lines “though as for that the passing there / had worn them really about the same.” This states explicitly that about the same number of people had passed on each path. The traveler is not walking a unique path. While the path is covered in “leaves no step had trodden black,” the line “both that morning” indicates that this is a temporary state. The paths are not described as uniformly different, they are different “that morning.” While, as the poem’s title explains, one road is “not taken” or “less traveled by” it does not state exactly who it is less traveled by. One can easily read that it has been less travelled by the speaker, not the world at large.
Word choice is very telling in this idea the idea that it is the speaker who has not travelled the road, not other people. For example, the poet continually uses “I” statements. The other is not mentioned explicitly in the poem, and only the speaker, the traveler, comes through in pronouns. Even when discussing others who have passed on the road, it is only the road itself that is described, not the walkers. That is, the road itself is “grassy and wanted wear.” The road “equally lay / in leaves no step had trodden black.” This line is, itself, the only reference to another traveler. It describes the step, but not the individual passing through. Again, it becomes the traveler’s journey that matters, not the road nor the others who have come before.
The most vital component to this idea of the walker’s journey being paramount is the way in which the traveler is described as passing through his or her walk. The speaker longs to “be one traveler.” This implies a desire to continue as a walker on the path, without a destination set forward in advance. That indicates the journey itself is of value. In addition, the speaker states that he “kept the first [road] for another day.” Again, the road is of value, not where it leads. The speaker is a traveler, who seeks to continue progression up the path of his or her choosing, though which path he chooses does not matter. The traveler looks down one path, seeking out not destination but the point where he can no longer see where it goes. There is no indication that the traveler is seeking the final endpoint of the road, but rather the way in which that road extends. The roads, then, are valuable for the terrain they traverse, not their destination.
The literary devices employed in the poem convey the sense that journey is important, not destination. Lines are long, and with very few end-stop periods. The rhythm of the poem is expressive, and fluid, much like a journey through the woods. Lines flow into one another, occasionally broken by comma pauses, but not hard stops. Indeed, the first two thirds of the poem are one long thought, unbroken by harsh stopped lines. The only final punctuation used is the semi-colon in the 5th line, which ends the thought without breaking the momentum of the verse. The poem is broken into roughly three parts by punctuation. The first, ended by a semicolon, describes the act of starting down the roads. It is lyrical, and follows a reasonably simplistic rhyme scheme which set up the traveler as just beginning his or her journey. The second third describes the choice between the roads, and uses rhyme to emphasize thoughts. That is, the rhyme of “fair” “wear” and “there” draw the reader into a pattern of reading that mimics the journey down the path that has been chosen. In the final third is much more punctuation ally abrupt, using exclamation points and dashes to give hard pauses to thoughts. This allows the reader to reflect back on the choice made, and how that choice effects the traveler’s life. In this way, the punctuation and other linguistic devices employed aid the reader in interpreting the poem.
The rhyme and sound selection in the poem is also very useful in interpretation. The general structure is ABAAB, a fairly simplistic rhyme scheme, however the use of internal rhyme and rhythmic devices continues to provide the feeling of a journey in the way the language sounds and looks. The first stanza’s repetition of the word “and” to start lines gives the sense of motion, despite the traveler having paused in the literal text of the poem. The traveler may have stopped, but the journey he or she is on continues to progress, as evinced by the use of “and.” The use of the “th” sound in the fourth line of the second stanza also gives a sense of motion. The sibilance of the sound allows it to be spoken quickly, illustrating the traveler’s choice to continue down the untraveled path. Finally, in the last stanza, the repetition of the word “I” in the last and second to last line further emphasizes that it is the speaker’s journey that matters, not any other traveler that has walked this road. “I” is placed before and after a hard stop, making it stand out. It is a hard sound, which further draws emphasis to it. This hard sound drives the poem’s final lines to a highly articulated emphasis.
Finally, the end of the poem clearly illustrates drives home the idea that this poem is not about taking a road that has not been chosen by many, but rather that it is one that has been chosen before, but not by the traveler. The traveler makes it clear that he or she will recount the story of his or her travels—“I shall be telling this with a sigh.” More than that, however, the traveler indicates that he or she will value the telling. This is indicated by the concept of telling the story to the ages, in the far future—“somewhere ages and ages hence.” This echoes the idea of a verbal narrative, much like an oral tradition, where one individual passes on their accumulated knowledge via story telling. That tradition hearkens back to the medium of poetry, often used to retell folktales of great value. The traveler valued the path he or she walked, enough so that he or she would tell it to the future generations. The final two lines indicate something counter to what they specifically state, however. It is not that the road was not travelled, it was that the traveler had not walked it. This allows for a juxtaposition of meaning and implication that strengthens the poem’s meaning.
While this poem is often used to describe the benefits of choosing the unique path, it clearly is not solely about that idea. It describes the concept that walking a path, that taking a journey, is what is valuable, not the path that one chooses. The traveler values his or her walk, and examines each step of the way. The literary devices in the poem, including the rhythm, meter, and rhyme emphasize this meaning. The choice of punctuation further emphasizes it. The poem itself is an exhortation to live life fully, to make one’s journey of value such that one may pass it on to future generations, either in poetry or prose, as a powerful story worth retelling.