Robert Frost The Road Not Taken Analysis Essay

The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost tells of a traveler who comes to a fork in a road and is forced to choose which path to take. Composed of four stanzas of five lines each, the poem was written in iambic tetrameter with an ABAAB rhyme scheme. One of Frost’s earlier works, this piece is extremely popular and known to many. However, the popularity of this poem causes many people to take it for granted. Be that as it may, if one chooses to read between the lines and look closely, the true message of the poem comes through. One must look closely at the descriptions, symbols, and title of the poem to interpret a deeper meaning.

One common misconception made by those who read this piece is that the road the speaker chooses to take is truly “the one less traveled by” (Frost 19). In reality, both roads are covered in equal amounts of grass and leaves. The footsteps of other travelers had worn them “really about the same” (10) and so the choice made by the speaker was really not affected by the appearance of either path. The road taken was not actually less worn than the other.

Symbolism is another important element to consider when reading this poem. The fork in the road symbolizes an important life event, a key choice that the speaker of the poem must make. The way he chooses to take will determine the course of his life, and he

cannot go back to change his mind. He carefully considers both choices, telling himself he can go back later on and try the other way, but he knows he cannot. When he looks back on this moment later in life, he wonders, will he be satisfied with the choice he has made? He cannot say.
The title of the poem may be, in truth, the most revealing element when divining the author’s intent.

Frost did not title his poem, “The Road I Chose” or “I Took the Road Less Traveled By.” Instead, he named it, “The Road Not Taken.” This indicates that the speaker in the poem is more focused on what he didn’t do rather than what he did do. He still wonders what was down that other path. He regrets that he never took the other fork, to see what was down that way. “I shall be telling this with a sigh” (16) Frost writes. Why will he sigh? Does he believe he made the right choice? His decision will still haunt him for years to

come.
Contrary to popular belief, “The Road Not Taken” was not meant to be an inspiring, “go your own way” type of poem. Instead, Frost writes of indecision and regret. The memory of the road that the speaker did not take gnaws at him. In order to feel better about his decision, he alters his story so that the road he chose to take was indeed less traveled instead of exactly the same as the road he did not take.