"Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where there is no path
and leave a trail." -Robert Frost Everyone is a traveler, choosing the
roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a
straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head.
Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his
poem, "The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different
interpretations. It is one's past, present and the attitude with which he looks
upon his future that determines the shade of the light that he will see the poem
in. In any case however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost's belief that it
is the road that one chooses that makes him the man who he is. "And sorry I
could not travel both..." It is always difficult to make a decision because
it is impossible not to wonder about the opportunity cost, what will be missed
out on. There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is even made and it
lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down
every path. In an attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one
as far as I could". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as
does any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to see as far the road
stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where it is
going to lead. It is the way that he chooses here that sets him off on his
journey and decides where he is going. "Then took the other, just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim." What made it have the better claim is
that "it was grassy and wanted wear." It was something that was
obviously not for everyone because it seemed that the majority of people took
the other path therefore he calls it "the road less travelled by". The
fact that the traveler took this path over the more popular, secure one
indicates the type of personality he has, one that does not want to necessarily
follow the crowd but do more of what has never been done, what is new and
different. "And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden
black." The leaves had covered the ground and since the time they had
fallen no one had yet to pass by on this road. Perhaps Frost does this because
each time a person comes to the point where they have to make a choice, it is
new to them, somewhere they have never been and they tend to feel as though no
one else had ever been there either. "I kept the first for another
day!" The desire to travel down both paths is expressed and is not unusual,
but "knowing how way leads on to way", the speaker of this poem
realizes that the decision is not just a temporary one and he "doubted if I
should ever come back." This is his common sense speaking and acknowledging
that what he chooses now will affect every other choice he makes afterward. Once
you have performed an act or spoken a word that crystalizes who you are, there
is no turning back, it cannot be undone. Once again at the end of the poem the
regret hangs over the traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. He realizes
that at the end of his life, "somewhere ages and ages hence", he will
have regrets about having never gone back and traveling down the roads he did
not take. Yet he remains proud of his decision and he recognizes that it was
this path that he chose that made him turn out the way and he did and live his
life the way in which he lived. "I took the road less trvaeled by and that
had made all the difference." To this man, what was most important, what
really made the difference, is that he did what he wanted, even if it meant
taking the road less traveled. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be the same man he is
now. There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and Robert Frost may
have intended this. He may have been trying to achieve a universal
understanding. In other words, there is no judgement, no specificity, no moral.
There is simply a narrator who makes a decision in his life that had changed the
direction of his life from what it may ahve otherwise been. It allows all
readers from all different experiences to relate to the poem.