The speaker in The Road Not Taken is walking in a forest in autumn, as the forest is yellow. On the road, the speaker faces a fork where he or she should decide which road should be taken. But, the speaker can not choose both roads as he or she is only one person. The decision is not easy and the speaker should make this choice between the two roads. Therefore, the traveler stood for a long time and tried to see where the road was leading. However, the traveler could not see that because of the wavy road and the dense forest. The traveler chose one path and walked into it, judging it to be equal to the other one and considering the choice as a fair one while hoping it to be a better choice than the other road that was not chosen. Both roads are considered equally by the traveler and they are quite similar as well. The traveler considers revisiting the other road one day later while he or she immediately realizes that a return to the other road is not to be considered in the future. However, the speaker imagines that he or she is telling the story of this decision in the future while the speaker states that the choice or the decision he/she made had consequences that changed her or his life.
The main theme of the poem is the uncertainty and decisions that one takes when one faces different situations and choices in life. The two paths represent two choices that one can face in their life or, in simpler words, they are two paths of life. However, the speaker chose the less traveled road which indicates that the speaker chose the unusual choice or the unusual path of life which as well represents individualism beyond the group choices.
Frost in his poem uses a sad tone in the text and approaches the matter from an emotional perspective. The sadness from the beginning where Frost refers to “a yellow wood” as a symbol for autumn that represents sadness or emotional sphere of sadness. Furthermore, the one who is walking in the forest is forced to choose among two roads which he or she later slightly regrets. The regret is obvious when the traveler starts to doubt if she or he ever comes back to visit the other road. There is a shift in the poem’s tone from sadness and regret to a positive feeling of the choice that the speaker made. This is stated explicitly at the end of the poem when Frost states that this choice made all the difference.
Further, Rober Frost makes clear use of metaphors to create images of what the traveler is facing and what kind of experience he or she is going through. The real matter of the poem is never stated explicitly. That leaves space to interpret and freely imagine what the poem is about whether it is about life choices or simpler ones. However, Frost’s language is figurative and the metaphors create symbols of which can be interpreted by the reader such as the road which refers to life, and the crossroads which refers to the decisions that one should make.
The rhythm and the language in the poem contribute to a musical feeling in the poem enriched by the figurative and symbolic language that Frost is using in the poem.
Having read the poem raises emotional aspects about one’s choices in life. To some extent, it creates a feeling of daring to challenge the herd culture and make their own choices based on their preferences and not according to what others are doing.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Furthermore, a nostalgic feeling is flowing throughout the poem as the speaker lives to tell others about his or her choice. That is an explicit statement to not regret what happened which is in a way or another encouraging. This scheme is interesting and imposes challenging ideas about society and life in general while more specifically, about one’s own life and own choices. An interesting aspect in the poem is the emotional journey from sadness to slight regrets and ending with emphasizing the role of the decision that the speaker or the traveler made. However, the traveler or the speaker in the poem is an anonymous person whose gender is never defined throughout the poem. The poem leaves space for interpretations and one can argue that Robert Frost himself is telling the poem and going through this journey in the poem. The speaker is narrating the poem rather than observing the events. That is, the speaker is telling the poem outgoing from what he or she is experiencing or has experienced.
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Mainly, there is an internal conflict within the traveler in the poem that starts and reaches a peak point when facing the two roads and making the decision while the conflict is resolved when the speaker explicitly states that she or he never regretted the decision that he or she took.