"The road not taken" by Robert Frost

By: I.Doherty

“The Road not taken” is a narrative poem, written by Robert Frost in 1915. This poem was written as a joke for his friend Edward Thomas, who was often very indecisive about which route they should take when they went out for walks. Thomas took this poem personally and might have been significant in his decision to enlist in WW1.  
 
Robert Frost when walking with his friends always choose the prettier road, which happened to be the road which was less travelled, because very few people often took it. The poet was adventurous and wanted to discover what came after that path. He wanted to do something different from others. Robert Frost said in an interview that later on during his walk he noticed that he had taken the wrong road and had gotten lost.  
 
During his readings, Frost would often say that the speaker of the poem was Edward Thomas. In his words, Thomas was “a person who, whichever road he went, he would be sorry he didn’t go the other. He was hard on himself that way.” Whichever road we decide to go, how do we know that we are not missing out on something good on the other path?  
 
What is the meaning of “The road not taken”? This title is frequently misunderstood. There are a few people who think that it means “follow your path”, but there is some irony regarding such an idea. The poem isn’t called “The road less travelled”, but yes “The road not taken” which of course means “the road one didn’t take” which means the title passes over the “less travelled” road the author claims to have followed to foreground the road he never tired.  
 
This poem describes a dilemma of a person standing in front of a road with two pathways. This diversion symbolizes real-life situations. Because sometimes in life there come times when we have to make tough choices. We cannot decide what is good or bad for us ahead of time. The two roads represent the decisions that one has to make in life. Once you take a path you can never go back and retrace your steps, it is critical to make the best decision possible. 
 
In conclusion, the poem is the metaphor of life, while the fork in the path is metaphorically the choices, we make that determine the course of our life. The central message would be that in life we are always going to be presented with options, there often will not be a right or wrong choice, you will just have to choose the one which looks better in your eyes it may not necessarily be the best one and you will never know if you are missing out on something by taking this path, but it is the one which you are most driven to. The one which brings you happiness.