The Road Not Taken

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.

--Robert Frost

This is one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets. While I have my B.A. in English when I was in grade school, I was not fond of English and the Language Arts. I was and still am somewhat of a slow reader. I have never been a speed reader, I still actually read every word on the page. That is not to say I don't occasionally skim some items that I read but when it comes to my literature I read every word. I hated timed tests in school. Anyhow, Frost was one of the first poets that I read and was able to understand what he was actually saying. That is not to say that he is an easy read because you do have to read his work carefully. His writings are great in my opinion because they can hold dual meaning. Take this poem. One can read this context as someone looking back over their life and pondering how the choices made influenced the outcome of their life. Or it can be read as a poem of the moment. An introspect of the daily choices we make. And how inevitably we can not understand how those choices effect us until we live those choices.