Robert Frost on Making the Most of Your Decisions :

The Road Not Taken

There are two puzzling elements to Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. First, the title itself. It suggests he might be wistfully fantasizing about where a road might have taken him if he had indeed taken it. One of the constants in the human character is to speculate on the what ifs of life. In reality Frost and his hiking companion, Robert Graves, often encountered a fork in the road and arbitrarily chose one over the other, anticipating the advice of Yogi Berra who said, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” In short, the poem is not at all about a road not taken.

Second, while in life, in my view, Frost “Took the road less travelled by”, a careful reading of the poem reveals that both roads that presented themselves were equally “less travelled” as he states:

Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same, / And both the morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden back.

In short, this travelling duo did not take the road less travelled by as they were indistinguishable, one from the other.

Frost then ends his poem by pointing out what many are wont to do, indulge in a bit of revisionist history, rationalize and justify to ourselves the decision we made. Frost ends his poem thus:

I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence / Two roads diverged in the woods, and I — / Took the one less travelled by / And that made all the difference.

Does that mean the message is less poignant? Not at all. It may be even more powerful for its honesty. So what lessons can we taken from the poem, intended or not intended?

First, we may not know which road to take, but we can make the most of the road we “traveled by” and if we must, rationalize our decision. While showing a serious interest in poetry at a young age, he had tried his hand at farming and teaching, both unsuccessfully. He moved to England in 1912 where he stayed until 1915. He was influenced by fellow poets Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves and Ezra Pound. Pound helped him publish the two books of poetry he wrote and published in England that spurred his start and ultimate phenomenal success. One could easily and rightfully argue that both going to England and becoming a poet were roads less travelled by.

Second, we might also argue that paths less travelled provide opportunities beyond the horizon of the well trodden trails of farming and teaching, of Frost’s time, for example. The cutting edge of technology of his day was the flying machine. In our day it is chip based technology, communications and social media. The arts in general and poetry specifically will always qualify as “roads less travelled by”.

However, if you persist with diligence, discipline and determination at what you discover to be your calling you may well succeed. If there is one common factor in the numerous biographies I have read, most, if not all, had to persist and overcome numerous setbacks and disappointments.

The irony is that the poem itself was written to poke fun at his friend and fellow poet Robert Graves. Frequently, Frost walked in the woods with Graves. Frequently, they encountered different trails and had to make a choice as to which one to follow. Invariably, Graves would state, after returning, that they had chosen the wrong path, and hence the title, “The Road Not Taken” What Frost realized and Graves didn’t, is that you might just as well make the most of the path you have chose even if you kid yourself after the fact that you, “Took the one less travelled by.”

Given the success of the poem and its more profound meaning, might he have retitled it, The Road Less Travelled By?

There are three more lines that ring true about our oh so human nature to lament or make excuses about the road not taken.

Oh, I kept the first for another day! / Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted I should ever come back.

How often do we postpone cleaning the attic or basement, because there is always tomorrow; fail to visit an historical sight in a city we are visiting, thinking we will surely return; or plan to launch a new hobby we claim interest in but only fool ourselves and never get to it.

Allegorically, you could argue that Frost made the most of his short poem. It had in the end a meaning far beyond the amusement he got from the reaction from his friend to their walks. It became the most widely quoted poem in Frost’s extensive opus.

And ironically, as mentioned above, the poem is not about the road not taken as the title implies. We are left to speculate about what the other road might have brought but Frost does not. He might have said:

Two roads diverged in the woods, and I- / Took one of the two not travelled by / And built the most on the choice I made.

Fortunately, Frost is a poet and I am not and with his poet’s license said instead:

Two roads diverged in the woods, and I — / Took the one less travelled by / And that made all the difference.

And what a difference.

Her for you to enjoy and interpret for yourself is the entire poem.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And be one traveler, long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, / And having perhaps the better claim, / Because it was grassy and wanted wear; / Though as for that the passing there / Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black. / Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back.

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.