The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
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.
This poem, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, is often attributed as a call for originality and carving out your own path, which can be seen in the countless images of a pretty forest with the final lines of the poem on top of them, like this one:
Figure 1: An image of two roads diverging in a forested area, with one road being wider and marked with tire tracks and the other being narrower and having a line where grass is growing between two bare lines of dirt meant for walking or for smaller vehicles/carriages. Over top the center this image, the words “I took the words less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference” are printed, with the quote being attributed to Robert Frost in the lower right-hand corner.

However, if you take a second look at this poem, this interpretation doesn’t seem to be very accurate. For one thing, Frost describes the road he chooses to go down as being “grassy and wanting wear,” before immediately undermining that claim by saying that both roads “equally lay,” and had been “worn really about the same.” So, this seems to support the idea that he chose the road that seemed less traveled, not the one that was less traveled. For another, he decides to leave the “first [road] for another day,” which seems to lessen the importance of this choice, as he could easily go back and where the other road leads, while also changing the mood of the poem from solemn and contemplative to whimsical and playful with a single sentence. Though, he seems to shrug off this idea, doubting that he “should ever come back.” Finally, he says that choosing to travel down this road “has made all the difference,” but throughout the poem, he seems to regret this choice, being “sorry” he could not go down both roads, and sighing as he tells this rather mundane story of being at a fork in the road perhaps years past its taking place. This repeated use of contradiction encourages the reader to question the importance of this decision, and to ask why Frost believes that choosing to travel down a seemingly less traveled road “has made all the difference” in hindsight.

While most people reading this poem took it as a serious decision as to where one’s path may lead, Frost originally wrote it as a playful jab at his friend and fellow writer Edward Thomas, who was often indecisive on which road they should take while walking together, and afterwards, wished that they had taken the other instead. He frequently voiced his disappointment that people took this sarcastic contemplation on a rather mundane choice as an honest cry for individuality and quick decisions. Thomas, too first read the poem in this fashion.

Here, Frost uses the guise of contemplation and introspection on a decision from his past to show the reader that choices are inevitable, and that trying to ascribe meaning to such a choice is frequently forced and inauthentic. It’s a shame that most just didn’t get the joke.