Blog Entry #4

Andrea Pereira

Dr. Jason Smith

English 102

September 29^th, 2013.

 

                In San Francisco California, on March 26^th, 1974 a very popular American poet was born by the name of Robert Lee Frost. Frost remained as an unknown until about the age of 40; he is most famous for his realistic interpretations of rural life in England and his use of American speech. Born originally in the California, Frost moved to Massachusetts after the death of his father.  After only little success in the states, Frost decided to sell his farm in New Hampshire with his wife Elinor and move to England in hopes that he would have better luck finding publishers willing to use his work.  In England Frost met Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, the first to be fond of his work (Biography, Web). One of Frost’s most famous poems “The Road Not Taken” was inspired by Thomas’s long walks over the English landscape regarding his indecision and regret debating what path to take (Biography, Web). “The Road Not Taken” was published in 1916. After WWII broke out, Frost moved back to the united States and publishers that rejected him previously wanted to use his work, Frost famously sent them his work that they rejected to publish (Biography, Web).  

                Robert Lee Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” consists of four stanzas of five lines. The poem tells the story of a person who has reached a fork in the road and is debating on which path to take. The speaker is in front of a leafy pathway that leads to two intersections, he is alone and can only travel one way but can’t decide which one to pick (1-4). After all the debating, the speaker chooses a path and the path the speaker chooses seems to be the one less traveled on due to the extra leaves on top of it (6-8). The speaker then thinks more into his decisions and believes that both pathways can be equal, yet he still questions his decision and debates whether or not it was the right path to take (9-13). The speaker realizes that it wouldn’t be a wise decision to go back and try the other path, in other words he knows one road leads to another until you reach a final destination (14-15). The speaker now looks forward in time and speaks of how he chose the road less traveled by and that one decision changed everything (15-20).

                “The Road Not Taken” is a poem based on an individual making a decision that will change their life. The title gives the reader an idea of which decision the speaker will ultimately make. My interpretation of the poem is that the speaker has come across a fork in the road and must choose between one or the other. Frost states that both roads are equally worn and that both have leaves over them. Yet in the last stanza:

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Two roads diverded in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

 

 

The speaker is stating that he will tell people in the future he took the road less traveled by and it changed his life forever. But in fact, the speaker is lying due to what he states earlier in the poem:

“And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black”

 

He is stating that both paths are equal. This leads me to believe that Frost is sending the message that if you choose a path by chance or because it was your decision, it won’t make a difference in your life. In life, making a decision is only an illusion because no matter what choice you make in life that’s just the way it happens. In life everyone has a destiny and it happens because that’s the course our life is meant to happen, not because of any particular reason.

                At first the speaker seems to have an idea as to what choice he will ultimately makes but in the end he realizes both are the same. The speaker is very indecisive which can make the poem a bit confusing to understand and also leads people to have several different understandings of what the poem is about. The idea behind Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is due to Frost’s friend Edward Thomas, and his habit of taking long walks through the countryside (Bestoffrost, Web).  Thomas would take Frost on his walks to show him a rare plant or special view and would regret choosing a certain path due to the fact that Thomas could have chosen a “better” direction (Bestoffrot,Web).

Works Cited

A+E Networks. "Robert Frost Biography." Editorial. Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. http://www.biography.com/people/robert-frost-20796091?page=2.

Frost, Robert. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15717

Thompson, Lawrence. "What Inspired The Road Not Taken." Letter. N.d. What Inspired The Road Not Taken. N.p., Jan. 200. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. http://www.bestoffrost.com/what-inspired-the-road-not-taken/.