2023年6月24日发(作者：)

《The Road Not Taken》

"The Road Not Taken" is a poem by Robert Frost, published in

1916 in the collection Mountain Interval, it is the first poem

in the volume and is printed in italics. The title is often

mistakenly given as "The Road Less Traveled", from the

penultimate line: "I took the one less traveled by".

The poem has two recognized interpretations; one is a more

literal interpretation, while the other is more ironic.

Readers often see the poem literally, as an expression of

individualism. Critics typically view the poem as ironic.[1]

– "'The Road Not Taken,' perhaps the most famous example of

Frost's own claims to conscious irony and 'the best example in

all of American poetry of a wolf in sheep's clothing.'"[2] –

and Frost himself warned "You have to be careful of that one;

it's a tricky poem – very tricky."[3] Frost intended the poem

as a gentle jab at his great friend and fellow poet Edward Thomas

with whom he used to take walks through the forest (Thomas

always complained at the end that they should have taken a

different path) and seemed amused at this certain

interpretation of the poem as inspirational. Literal interpretation

According to the literal (and more common) interpretation, the

poem is inspirational, a paean to individualism and

non-conformism.

The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the

speaker describes his position. He has been out walking in the

woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down

each one as he can see. He would like to try out both, but doubts

he could do that, so therefore he continues to look down the

roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which

road to take.

Ironic interpretation

The ironic interpretation, widely held by critics,[1][5] is

that the poem is instead about regret and personal myth-making,

rationalizing our decisions.

In this interpretation, the final two lines:

I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

are ironic : the choice made little or no difference at all,

the speaker's protestations to the contrary. The speaker admits

in the second and third stanzas that both paths may be equally

worn and equally leaf-covered, and it is only in his future

recollection that he will call one road "less traveled by".

The sigh, widely interpreted as a sigh of regret, might also

be interpreted ironically: in a 1925 letter to Cristine Yates

of Dickson, Tennessee, asking about the sigh, Frost replied:

"It was my rather private jest at the expense of those who might

think I would yet live to be sorry for the way I had taken in

life."

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 " 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 grassland 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

traveled 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

crystallizes who you are, there is no turning back and 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 traveled 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 judgment, 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 have otherwise been. It

allows all readers from all different experiences to relate to

the poem.

Robert Frost is one of the finest of rural New England’s 20th

century pastoral poets. His poems are great combination of

wisdom, harmony and serenity. They are simple at first sight, but demand readers for deep reading to grasp further meaning

beyond surface.

The famous poem of Frost The Road Not Taken is my favorite. This

poem consists of four stanzas of five lines. The rhyme scheme

is ABAAB. the rhymes are strict and masculine, with notable

exception of the last line. There are four stressed syllables

each line, varying on iambic tetrameter base.

The Road Not Taken tells about life choice. Man’s life is

metaphorically related to a journey filled with twists and

turns. One has to consider a lot before making a wise choice.

Though the diverged roads seem identical, they actually lead

to different directions, which symbolize different fates.

A less than rigorous look at the poem may lead one to believe

that Frost’s moral is embodied in those lines. The poem is

taken as a call to independence, preaching originality and Emersonian self-reliance. The poem deconstructs its conclusion

stanza by stanza.

At the beginning of this poem, the poet shows the inability of

human beings to foresee the future, especially the results of

choices. At the split in the road, the speaker looks far down

both the two paths to see what each of the paths will bring.

However, his sight is limited; his eyes can only see the path

until it bends into “the undergrowth”. Man is free to choose,

but doesn’t know beforehand the results of his choice.

Both roads diverge into a “yellow wood” and appear to be

“about the same” in their purposes. The first path is a more

common route. The other is less traveled, which “was grass and

wanted wear”. The poet presents a conflict here—the decision

between the common easy path and exceptional challenging path.

The two different paths signify two different kinds of lives.

Choosing the common easy path, people will feel at ease and live in safety, because the outcome is predictable. However, that

kind of life may be less exciting and lack of novelty. While

choosing the “less traveled” road represents the gamble of

facing a more difficult path in lives. This forms contrast with

familiar lives of most people. People hope to achiever a

satisfactory and interesting life on this road. The wish is good,

but reality is full of challenges and uncertainties. Nobody can

be sure of the outcome. After vacillating between the two roads,

the poet finally decides to take the road “less traveled by”

and leads a different life from common people. This may indicate

his choice to be a poet, other than other jobs. The poet makes

up his mind to dedicate himself to poem writing, which is

regarded as a less common career.

Once the decision is made, there will be no way to return to

the original choice to experience the other route. So the poet

utters “Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I

should ever come back.” The made choice is irrevocable, so man

must be careful and rational before making decisions. At the

same time, he must be courageous enough to shoulder the result of his choice, whether it is good or not.

Frost presents man’s limitation to explore life’s different

possibilities. The poet “sighs” at the end of the poem. For

at the time of one’s choice, he must give up other choices and

miss some other things. At the same time, he “sighs” with

lamentation, pondering what he may have missed on the other path

and that he doesn’t have opportunities to experience another

kind of life.

The Road Not Taken is interpreted universally as a

representation of two similar choices. At the beginning, man

may face two identical forks, which symbolize the nexus of free

choice and fate. They contrast increasingly with each other as

they diverge in their separate directions. Man is free to choose,

but it’s beyond his ability to foretell the consequences. Man

can choose a common route which guarantees a safe and reliable

life. He can also choose a less common one which is unknown, unique and stands out above other else’s. All in all, man must

be responsible for his choice and has courage to shoulder the

result. He can never go back to the past and experience other

possibilities. It is impossible to predict the outcome of

decisions, so it is essential for him to make wise decisions

after considering, selecting and questioning which selection

will provide him with fulfillment.

The Road Not Taken is full of philosophical overtones. This poem

should be read as a warning. Man should consider a lot before

making choices and reflect over the choices he has made to

discover “all the differences”.

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” has been one of the most

analyzed, quoted, anthologized poems in American poetry. A

wide-spread interpretation claims that the speaker in the poem

is promoting individualism and non-conformity.

A Tricky Poem

Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had walked many times in the woods near

London. Frost has said that while walking they would come to

different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always

fret wondering what they might have missed by not taking the

other path.

About the poem, Frost asserted, "You have to be careful of that

one; it's a tricky poem - very tricky." And he is, of course,

correct. The poem has been and continues to be used as an

inspirational poem, one that to the undiscerning eye seems to

be encouraging self-reliance, not following where others have

led.

But a close reading of the poem proves otherwise. It does not

moralize about choice; it simply says that choice is inevitable,

but you never know what your choice will mean until you have

lived it.

First Stanza – Describes Situation

The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the

speaker describes his position. He has been out walking the

woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down each one as he can see. He would like to try out both, but doubts

he could to that, so therefore he continues to look down the

roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which

road to take.

Second Stanza – Decides to Take Less-Traveled Road

The speaker had looked down the first one “to where it bent

in the undergrowth,” and in the second stanza, he reports that

he decided to take the other path, because it seemed to have

less traffic than the first. But then he goes on to say that

they actually were very similarly worn. The second one that he

took seems less traveled, but as he thinks about it, he realizes

that they were “really about the same.” Not exactly that same

but only “about the same.”

Third Stanza – Continues Description of Roads

The third stanza continues with the cogitation about the

possible differences between the two roads. He had noticed that

the leaves were both fresh fallen on them both and had not been

walked on, but then again claims that maybe he would come back

and also walk the first one sometime, but he doubted he would

be able to, because in life one thing leads to another and time is short.

Also on Suite101

Frost's Snow and Woods

Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" seems

simple, but its nuanced phrase, "And miles to go before I

sleep," offers much about which to Stanza – Two Tricky Words

The fourth stanza holds the key to the trickiness of the poem:

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.

Those who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take

the word “difference” to be a positive difference. But there

is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference signals a positive outcome. The speaker could not offer such

information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.

The other word that leads readers astray is the word “sigh.”

By taking “difference” to mean a positive difference, they

think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief; however, a sigh

can also mean regret. There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh,

but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh. Which one is it

If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker

is glad he took the road he did; if it is the regret sigh, then

the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be

sighing in regret. But the plain fact is that the poem does not

identify the nature of that sigh. The speaker of the poem does

not even know the nature of that sigh, because that sigh and

his evaluation of the difference his choice will make are still

in the future. It is a truism that any choice an indiviual make

is going to make “all the difference” in how our future turns

out.

Careful Readers Won’t Be Tricked

So Frost was absolutely correct; his poem is tricky—very tricky. In this poem, it is important to be careful with the

time frame. When the speaker says he will be reporting sometime

in the future how his road choice turned out, he clearly states

that he cannot assign meaning to “sigh” and “difference”

yet, because he cannot know how his choice will affect his

future, until after he has lived it.

Robert Frost's Tricky Poem

Analysis of 'The Road Not Taken'

Nov 13, 2006 Linda Sue Grimes

Robert Frost - Wikimedia CommonsFrost said his poem "The Road

Not Taken" was tricky-very tricky. Three things make his poem

tricky-the time frame, and the words "sigh" and "difference."

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” has been one of the most

analyzed, quoted, anthologized poems in American poetry. A

wide-spread interpretation claims that the speaker in the poem is promoting individualism and non-conformity.

A Tricky Poem

Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward

Thomas, with whom he had walked many times in the woods near

London. Frost has said that while walking they would come to

different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always

fret wondering what they might have missed by not taking the

other path.

About the poem, Frost asserted, "You have to be careful of that

one; it's a tricky poem - very tricky." And he is, of course,

correct. The poem has been and continues to be used as an

inspirational poem, one that to the undiscerning eye seems to

be encouraging self-reliance, not following where others have

led.

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your destiny Analysis Independent Warehouse Analysis. Top

Professionals From The UK a close reading of the poem proves

otherwise. It does not moralize about choice; it simply says that choice is inevitable, but you never know what your choice

will mean until you have lived it.

First Stanza – Describes Situation

The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the

speaker describes his position. He has been out walking the

woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down

each one as he can see. He would like to try out both, but doubts

he could to that, so therefore he continues to look down the

roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which

road to take.

Second Stanza – Decides to Take Less-Traveled Road

The speaker had looked down the first one “to where it bent

in the undergrowth,” and in the second stanza, he reports that

he decided to take the other path, because it seemed to have

less traffic than the first. But then he goes on to say that

they actually were very similarly worn. The second one that he

took seems less traveled, but as he thinks about it, he realizes

that they were “really about the same.” Not exactly that same

but only “about the same.”

Third Stanza – Continues Description of Roads

The third stanza continues with the cogitation about the

possible differences between the two roads. He had noticed that

the leaves were both fresh fallen on them both and had not been

walked on, but then again claims that maybe he would come back

and also walk the first one sometime, but he doubted he would

be able to, because in life one thing leads to another and time

is short.

Also on Suite101

Frost's Snow and Woods

Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" seems

simple, but its nuanced phrase, "And miles to go before I

sleep," offers much about which to Stanza – Two Tricky Words

The fourth stanza holds the key to the trickiness of the poem:

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.

Those who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take

the word “difference” to be a positive difference. But there

is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference

signals a positive outcome. The speaker could not offer such

information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.

The other word that leads readers astray is the word “sigh.”

By taking “difference” to mean a positive difference, they

think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief; however, a sigh

can also mean regret. There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh,

but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh. Which one is it

If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker

is glad he took the road he did; if it is the regret sigh, then

the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be

sighing in regret. But the plain fact is that the poem does not

identify the nature of that sigh. The speaker of the poem does

not even know the nature of that sigh, because that sigh and his evaluation of the difference his choice will make are still

in the future. It is a truism that any choice an indiviual make

is going to make “all the difference” in how our future turns

out.

Careful Readers Won’t Be Tricked

So Frost was absolutely correct; his poem is tricky—very

tricky. In this poem, it is important to be careful with the

time frame. When the speaker says he will be reporting sometime

in the future how his road choice turned out, he clearly states

that he cannot assign meaning to “sigh” and “difference”

yet, because he cannot know how his choice will affect his

future, until after he has lived it.