Robert Frost "The Road Not Taken", I do not understand?

Question

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;

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,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

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. 

Thanks for the help guys:)


1) Why might Frost have chosen to write about roads that go through woods rather than roads that go through a garden or a wide open plain?  (Consider what woods might symbolize, or stand for.  Think also of the expression "we're not out of the woods yet.")
2)The speaker faces a hard choice in deciding which road to take.  what do you think he means when he says that he "kept" the first road for another day (line 13)?  How do we know that he realizes his choice of paths is utterly final?
3)From what the speaker says in lines 6-10, is one road really "less traveled" than the other?  Explain the contradiction in these lines.

naming-AC · Accepted Answer

1) Well "we're not out of the woods yet" means that your not out of trouble, there is still more ahead. So the woods could be the same thing--they are full of trees, new and old, and the paths are not always straight and clear, sometimes there isn't even a pat. A garden and plains are flatter, you can see where you are going and what is behind you, where as with woods the trees are tall and they grow close together and you can't see what is a long way in front of or behind you. It adds to the 14th and 15th line: "Yet knowing how way leads on to way; I doubted if I should ever come back," in that you can not go back and choose another path to see what would have been there.

2) He means that he will always remember the choices he had, but he also knows that he can never go back. We know he realizes this because of line 15. 

3) "Though as for that the passing there; Had worn them really about the same" (lines 9 and 10) If they were worn really about the same, then how could one be less traveled?

? · Answer

What he's asserting is that he did no longer opt for his course in existence in keeping with what absolutely everyone else became into doing, or what absolutely everyone predicted. it could be like a youthful grownup being predicted to bypass to college, get married, get a activity. yet particularly the greater youthful grownup joins activity corps particularly. Or is going to college and could become a doctor, yet then is going to 3 third international usa. Or something that may no longer like the norm. maybe he would not bypass to college in any respect, yet does something else. He chosen to maintain on along with his very own course particularly of the only absolutely everyone suggested he ought to. a good thank you to comprehend that is watch lifeless Poets Society. Robin Williams is going over that poem close to the commencing up.

devilgirl10732 · Answer

1.) I really dont no
2.) He is having a hard time choosing a road because if he chooses road one he wont know what will happen if he took road 2
3.) he's saying how he wants to be unique or try something new i guess

prog · Answer

Here's a video analysis of the poem.

http://xoax.net/english/literature/Robert-Frost-Road-Not-Taken-Analysis.php

Trending News

Robert Frost "The Road Not Taken", I do not understand?

4 Answers