A Thought Less Taken

The Road Not Taken
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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;

u~
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,~

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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.

u~
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.

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- Robert Frost

I don't recall the name of the book that I read the following thought in. I remember that I found the argument convincing. This book, which has separate pages of thought - one for each - on various well know ideas, has a take on this poem which is presented as obvious, though it wasn't obvious to me. The author says that this poem is widely misunderstood.

1

If you read it you will see that it makes sense to say that the two roads really are pretty equal. The walker/writer wants to differentiate between them, but can't really do it ("the passing there had worn them really about the same, and both that morning equally lay"). He chooses one, pretty much randomly, not because it is clearly the more out of box, daring approach. He wishes he could take both at once ("sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler") but of course he can't. Yet, he hopes he will have the chance in time to travel both of the available paths, to go back - though he knows life doesn't usually work that way ( "I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back").

1

The general take on the last stanza is that something terrific happens based on his brave choice of the road less taken. But nothing in the previous stanzas suggests that he has anything to brag about. It was fate, or chance, depending on how you choose to frame it, but it was not his choice that was the sole factor of the positive outcome. And we don't know what the result truly was of this man's under described selected path. The author of the book, whose name eludes me, suggests that this is bravado. This man is saying that one day he'll tell his grandchildren what a hero he was for having chosen the road less taken. But if you listen carefully, you'll hear him betray himself with a sigh ("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.")