two roads, two ideas, two possibilities of action. "The Road Not Taken"

deals with the choice between two roads, and with the results of the choice

which the poet makes. It raises the evident question of whether it is better to

choose a road in which many travel, or to choose the road less traveled and

explore it yourself. In "The Road Not Taken," the speakers' tone and setting

help illustrate the struggle a person goes through in their lives to pick the right

It is possible to read this poem as a statement of some self-pity on the

poet's part, a feeling, perhaps, that he has been cheated and misunderstood

because he took an unpopular path. To support this tone, one might point to

the last stanza: The speaker will some day, sighing, tell others that he took

the unknown road when faced with a choice. The reading, however, misses

much of the significance of the second and third stanzas. At the end of the

second, the speaker states that there was really not much difference in the two

roads; neither had really been worn by traffic, though one had been given

more wear than the other. It becomes obvious that the speaker's

The speaker ends the poem by stating that he chose the untravelled

like everybody else, a follower, but instead, chose a different road and be

is facing. If someone was standing at the edge of some woods you would not

to be saying that he would probably do the same thing again. The speakers

have to be devoted to the road he chose. Once he made this decision, he

The road which leads them to what they believe to be happiness. One of Frost's commonest subjects is the choice the poet is faced with

which road to pick. All he can do is look as far down each road as possible,

imagery. In the first stanza, yellow meant the color of the trees and foliage,

chose the right road. The sigh was to show that the road had not been easy.

confused and scared than he was earlier. The first glimpse of this change in

Some common words found in the essay are:
, choose road, road traveled, third stanza, chose road, stanza yellow, choose road traveled, pick road, road travel, tone setting, word yellow, reader determine, yellow wood seemingly, roads diverged yellow, diverged yellow wood, frost roads diverged,
Approximate Word count = 2121
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)