The Road More Traveled

A detailed Summary of The Road More Traveled


"The Road Not Taken" is perhaps the most studied poems of all time. Scholars and students alike have spent countless hours pouring over the mere twenty lines of verse. Yet, despite all the pondering and all the effort put forth, there has never been one fully accepted interpretation of the poem (or any poem, for that matter). The most common interpretation asserts that the speaker is recalling an important decision he made in his past with nostalgia and pride. However, I contend that another interpretation is more feasible. My interpretation of "The Road Not Taken" states that the speaker is not telling a story about making a right decision years ago but rather that he is trying to rationalize that his decision was not merely a guess.

As the poem begins, the reader is presented with a narrative of events from the past. The first stanza sets the scene for the narration. As "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" a lone walker comes upon a fork in the path and is left to decide which path to take, much the same as travelers on the road of life must do. The speaker's immediate instinct is to look for a reason to choo


The speaker in "The Road Not Taken" attempts to delude himself that he will be back to try the first path. Frost writes, "I kept the first [path] for another day." Even so, the speaker knows that he will not be back. In fact, he states that he "doubted" if he "should ever come back". All the speakers wants is his decision to be justified. He wants to rationalize that his choice is not wrong. He wants to know that he made a decision based on his reasons and desires rather than his whim. Both paths were "equally lay/in leaves no step had trodden black" meaning that neither path was any more unfavorable than the other. The speaker can not find the reason to choose one path over another that he wants so he'll be able to look back on his decision with confidence and pride.

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Perhaps the most telling word about the speakers attitude towards his decision comes in the last stanza. In the future, the speaker feels he will be telling the story of his decision with a "sigh". Would the speaker not tell the story with a proud smile or a jubilant laugh if he were happy with h

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 781
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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