The "Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

Question

What is Robert Frost really talking about? and Why?

Answer 1

A lot of people think he's saying that you should do the things other people don't do, that 'the road less traveled' is more interesting. However, three times in the poem, he says that there are no differences between the two paths, that both are equally untraveled. He says at the end that he imagines, sometime in the future, that he will say that he chose the road less traveled because it was less traveled, and therefore more interesting. It's those words that people remember. However, what he is really saying is that, at the moment of choice, there is no difference, it's that when we look back, we think that there are differences and reasons behind our choices, when, really, those differences don't exist.

The parts where he says there are no actual differences between the roads are:

1) Then took the other, AS JUST AS FAIR
2) Though as for that, the passing there, had worn them really ABOUT THE SAME
3) And both that morning EQUALLY LAY...

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I agree with both Pop and Katherine here. Frost isn't telling anyone what they should do, he's merely musing on the choices that come before us in our lives, and how each tiny choice leads us away from the path we did not choose, as 'way leads onto way.' He's also saying that you can only ever move forward, and never change a choice that has already been made.

However, with Frost it's also important to remember that he was a master of pastoral poetry, that is, poetry about nature and landscapes, and part of the impact of this poem is the wonderful visual that the reader gets of a yellow wood and two grassy paths leading off into the unknown. He wrote about New England, where he lived for many years, simply because of its wild beauty. What better reason is there to write a poem than that you are inspired?

Frost claimed the poem was intended to gently take the mickey out of his friend and fellow poet Edward Thomas. Apparently they would take walks together when Frost was living in England, and Thomas would often take a long time deciding which path they should follow, and would then fret about what might have been missed by not going up the other path.

In my opinion, however, the beauty of literature is that the reader is free to apply his own interpretation, and read things in the context of his own life, so at the end of the day it doesn't matter what Frost meant, just enjoy the beautiful poem and make of it what you will!

Answer 3

ok in this poem he is talking about life and how many choices there are that we have to make.
Frost talk of how he tries to look down one road but it was blocked by the undergrowth( 'bent in the undergrowth'), the meaning behind this is that although we may have an idea of what will come next if we chosse a certain choice we can never be sure as the future is unpredictable.
he says that he takes the path less travelled('And i took the one less travelled by'), and that one day he would like to come back and take the other one(' Oh i kept the first for another day'), but he doesn't thing it's likely that will ever happen('Yet i doubted if i should ever come back'). the meaning is this is that one small choice can alter the course of our lives forever ("and it has made all the difference") and that we can never turn back time if we make the wrong choice. It's pretty deep and scary to be honest, but it gets you thinking!

Answer 4

Oh wow, the beautiful and famous poem by Robert Frost. I believe I first read it in third grade. It means that there are two roads that look very different, because they are very different, but that the road less taken is the road that should be taken. It is less taken because of how it appears, thus conveying the message that things are not always as they seem. Look deep & think deep. He definitely was looking and thinking deeply in this poem.

Answer 5

Frost is talking about doing the "nonconformist" thing. Doing what others do not do and going where others do not usually go, and how that trip "has made all the difference" in his life and who he has become in his lifetime.