Andrea Pereira
Dr. Jason Smith
English 102
September 29th, 2013.
In San Francisco California, on March 26th, 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/.