| 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; | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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. | 15 |
| 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. | 20 |
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Poetry: The Road Not Taken
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This is arguably Frost's most popular poem as it ends with a sense of determination and hope. Most commonly it is often used in conjunction with graduation speeches, encouraging minds to not follow the crowd but take a new path. He ends with, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
ReplyDeleteI took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Granted, he does not say that the "difference" made was a good thing. However, the tone suggests a positive outcome as he fondly looks back at the choice he made to take the less traveled path.
What I am interested by though is if our discussions of the symbolic nature of seasons is relevant here? I am not sure it is, but do find it significant that Frost emphasized the season of fall with "yellow leaves" and the image of leaves having fallen onto the paths.
Perhaps the implications of the season change (focusing primarily on fall) which you pointed out helps convey the theme of starting over. While usually this is done through spring, in which plants sprout from the ground in their expected manner, autumn can also signify starting over, since it is a transitional time. It gives the speaker the opportunity to face a new way or "path" to take. This is done through the falling of the leaves- the fact that the once familiar leaves are shed could imply that the slate of familiar ways has been cleared, as the speaker states, "Yet knowing how way leads on to way,/ I doubted if I should ever come back". I interpreted this "knowing" to be a implication that the speaker has become familiar with redundant ways, and seeks to avoid "coming back" to it. Overall, I think it is the representation of change through autumn that enables the speaker to make the decision regarding which paths to take.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree the choice to use the fall as well as the color yellow to set the scene is significant to this poem. I see fall more as a time of change; it is a period of transition from one season to another. In this case, the subject of the poem, too, is going through a change. They must make a decision in moving forward with their life.
ReplyDeleteThe color yellow is associated with caution as well as attraction. The color yellow naturally draws one's attention because of its vibrancy. So when it says "TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood" it suggests a feeling of necessity, a decision must be made. Also the idea that yellow can mean caution shows that this decision must be made carefully so as not to take the wrong path.
The leaves falling on the path may also suggest a lack of time. There are phrases throughout the poem that suggest the subject is running out of time to make a decision: "sorry I could not travel both," "I doubted if I should ever come back," "I shall be telling this."
In regards to the "yellow wood", I personally felt that Frost specifically used this imagery to convey the mixed sense of beauty along with the unkempt nature of the less traveled road. Like Mrs. Roush pointed out, the general tone of the poem is that of optimism, and I think that the perceived beauty in these cluttered fallen leaves comes closest to representing the beauty and optimism in taking the cluttered road less traveled by.
ReplyDelete-Bret O'Brien
While fall is the only season mentioned, I felt that what follows fall could also be significant. As mentioned, spring symbolizes life and vitality while winter on the other hand tends to be associated with hardships. So perhaps Frost is suggesting the choices made in times of change(represented by fall as Alina mentioned)are what influence and prepare us for the hardships that follow in life-represented by winter.
ReplyDeleteI see the "yellow wood" as representing the importance of decisions made in times of change as stated by Kasi, but, I also wanted to bring up the line "In leaves no step had trodden black." I think this line sticks out in the poem because of the dramatic use of the color black. The rest of the poem gives you an image of fall because of the yellow wood and suggestions of a time of change, however, this line speaks of the color black which is dark and represents hard times or death. I feel that the use of darkness to represent the more traveled path correlates with the last lines of the poem, "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference," because it emphasizes the drastic outcomes that can be accompanied by following the crowd. Therefore, I think that Frost used the color black to warn the reader about the consequences of not being yourself and taking a different path from everyone else.
ReplyDeleteJess S.
Fall is a very beautiful time of year in nature, which Frost refers to when he talks about a "yellow wood." However, fall is also very short-lived. One day the leaves are turning vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow, and the next day the trees are bare and the leaves brown and shriveled. I connected the fleetingness of fall with the "road less traveled by" that the speaker chooses to take. Rather than taking the road that everyone else took, which could have provided temporary happiness (like the temporary beauty of fall), the speaker took the road less traveled, which "has made all the difference." I think that Frost used the imagery of fall to show that although going with the crowd is more beneficial, the happiness that it provides doesn't last all that long; doing your own thing and taking the "road less traveled" on the other hand, will result in long term happiness.
ReplyDelete