Table of Contents
THEME
The Road Not Taken Summary
The theme of the poem is the portrayal of the multitude of choices life has to offer. And how each of these choices is what determines our destinies. When he makes a choice at the fork, it changes his life forever.
Summary
This poem, written by Robert Frost, depicts a scenario where a man is faced with a diversion on the road he was walking on. Being singular, he could choose only one of these paths. The path stands at the fork and analyses the decision carefully.
The poet stretched his eyesight till the farthest point. Before he could choose which path to walk down on, he wanted to understand how it would be. He could see the path till where it curved, as afterward it was covered with trees.
He wanted to understand the downs and ups of both paths before taking it on. Similarly, in life, we have to make choices that may lead to good or bad consequences.
After longingly looking at one path, the author chooses the alternate one. He believed both the paths to be equally good but the one he chose was definitely better for him.
It was grassy and seemed to want wear. It was the path less walked on. On moving forward, he realizes that both the paths were equally worn out and had turnouts nonetheless.
In the same way, we might come to think that we are in a better position than others but all of us go through our own individual journeys.
In the morning or the start of the day, both the paths seemed the same with leaves on them. No one had stepped on them and thus they remained green.
The poet decides to take on one of those paths but immediately points out that he has left the other one for another day. But both the readers and the poet are well aware that one cannot return to the other path.
Likewise, in life, after we’ve moved forward with one choice and treaded on that path, it’s impossible to restart after you fail.
In the future, the poet says, that he was once faced with a very tough choice where both sides appealed to him equally. And when faced with this pick, he chose the path taken by fewer people. This settlement is what lead him to become the man he is today.
Robert Frost is trying to imply that the decisions taken in one’s youth make for a man’s future personality. All choices you make impact your future like a domino effect.
This poem thus delivers a very important message. An individual should choose with great caution and remember that the effects of these choices will pertain forevermore. One bad and negligible decision can call for the whole life of regret.
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FAQs
Q1) What did the narrator hope to do one day? Was he sure of achieving this wish?
A) The narrator wanted to come back and tread on the path he chose to ignore the first time around. However, he didn’t think he would be able to do it as one path leads to another, and returning is often difficult.
Q2) What did the narrator see in the woods? Were the two paths similar?
A) The narrator arrived at a fork in the woods or the forest. This was a diverging path and he had to choose one to continue. No, they weren’t similar. One of these paths was chosen fewer times and had more grass to prove it.
Q3) Elaborate on the poem’s title, “The Road not Taken.”
A) The poet was once faced with a diverging choice, and he chose the road not traveled on by too many people. But at a point in life, he comes to think about the tough choice he had to once make and leave the road more tread on behind. The poet believes that this particular decision has shaped his entire life.
Q4) Bring light to the symbolism used in the poem.
A) The diverging roads at the fork depict the choices we make daily that affect our being. Both these choices almost equally appealed to him and put him in a tough situation. The poet only thought about the road not taken after starting on his chosen road. Similarly, we only think about past decisions after having made them over time. The result of the pick determines if it was the right one or not.
