“The Road Not Taken” By Robert Frost: Human Struggle Of Making A Life-Altering Decision
At every moment in life, we are faced with choices. It is how we handle these choices that determine which way our life leads and whom we become. Robert Frost illustrates this in his poem “The Road Not Taken” using imagery to display the everyday human struggle of making a life-altering decision. The setting of this poem begins with a painted image of a path splitting into two paths and where these paths lead is not known. Frost’s poem consists of four stanzas that take on a reflective and meditative mood by showing the thought process behind the making of a single decision. In his poem, “The Road Not Taken, ” Robert Frost illustrates a traveler who struggles to make a choice when he is confronted with a fork in his path, symbolizing the journey of life and the significant choices that must be made along the way.
At the beginning of the poem, the traveler is confronted with a fork in the road and must make a choice. Here, the traveler is encountering a turning point as he must choose one path and realizes that traveling both is impossible. While not all decisions in life are as simple as choosing between two options, the poem depicts a relatable human dilemma. Neither of the paths’ destinations are disclosed to either the traveler or the audience. The traveler attempts to peer down the paths but his view of where they lead is blocked, symbolizing how one cannot predict the future. The undergrowth, or the greens and shrubbery of the forest, and the bend in the road are preventing him from being able to make an easier decision. His inability to see the outcome of his decision is adding pressure to his situation. This is similar to life, for if we knew the outcome of every decision we make, crossroads in life would be much more convenient. This seemingly black and white decision is taking ahold of the traveler as he is having a challenging time deciding between the two paths. At this point, the traveler possibly begins to weighing his options and looks for differences in the paths to aid in his decision. In the second stanza, the traveler finally makes a decision, choosing the path that he believes is less-traveled. This decision is depicted in his poem “The Road Not Taken, ” as Frost writes, “And having perhaps the better claim, / Because it was grassy and wanted wear”.
Looking for differences to aid in his decision, the traveler decided that one path looked less worn. This less-traveled path may have represented individuality to him, showing that he did not want to conform and wanted to take a different route than others before him had. From his point of view, he has chosen the path of most resistance. The fork in the road seems to represent a life-altering choice, where no compromise is possible. Only one path must be taken, as it is physically impossible to go down both. However, despite his want for differences, in reality, both paths are about the same. This could signify that they weigh about the same in consequences and as both paths appear untouched, it is possible that he is the first to face this decision. The traveler then changes his mind and admits that both paths are the same to him. This is shown in the poem as the author states, “Though as for that the passing there, / Had worn them really about the same”. His realization that his choice was truly a random impulse, causes him to rethink his choice and wonder where the other path would have taken him.
Regretting his decision, the traveler wishes he could one day return to try the other path but realizes this is a foolish notion. He has made his choice and cannot go back, as is the same in life. For better or for worse, he must stick with his choice and continue down the path. Life will always provide us with choices, and once they are made we must stick with them, as we cannot go back in time. It is not known if he chose the right road, because in life there is no right road. We do not get to go back and see how life would have turned out if we made a different decision. Some decisions in life are simple and do not cause much of an impact in the course of our life, while others have the means to drastically change the direction we are headed in. To the traveler, the road he chose made all the difference, signifying that the choice was an important one. Here, Frost is describing the traveler’s hope that in the future he would look back in time and admit that the path he chose to take changed his life. Frost’s choice of wording in the final lines of his poem is inconclusive as we, the reader, cannot tell if the traveler is happy with his choice. While he claims his choice made “all the difference, ” the statement itself does not indicate whether his life is better or worse for it.
Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” takes on a ‘what if’ mentality, but has often been misunderstood as a poem about making a decision. Frost uses his poem as a metaphor, where the path symbolizes life, and the crossroad symbolizes the decisions that must be made along the way. However, his poem is not about the destination or how to make a choice, but about the experience of assigning meaning to our past choices and haunting reminder of the road that was not taken. The poem was not so much focused on the road, but on the fact that the traveler made a choice and as a result, his life was changed. Frost’s poem reminds us that no matter which road we take, it is inevitable that we will wonder where the other road would have taken us, and we may never know.
