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Relevant Background | Summary | Themes | Tones
Imagery | Sound Effects
Robert Frost [1874-1963]
Relevant Background
- Robert Frost was born in San Francisco. He lived most of his life on a farm in the region of New England, on the eastern side of America.
- He went to university at Dartmouth College in 1892, and later Harvard, but never earned a formal degree
- Among his early jobs, he taught school and worked in a mill and as a newspaper reporter.
- His rich grandfather bought him a farm in New Hampshire.
- He wrote a lot of poems about country life and the beauty of landscape in the American state of New England. His poems could be about any place.
- He liked to use language as it is actually spoken.
- He is a poet of deep thoughts.
- The Road Not Taken shows Frost's ability to unite rural description with deep thinking.
Summary
This twenty-line poem contains four stanzas of five lines each.
The poem is set in a wood in autumn. The poem cleverly combines memory with personal prophesy. It contains a mental picture from the poet’s past and future.
On one level, the poem describes a woodland scene where a country road split into to two roads at a fork. It also describes a traveller’s regret at not being able to travel both roads. After making up his mind about what road to take, the traveller regretted not taking the other road.
On a deeper level, the poem describes a dilemma or a no-win-situation. The poem explores feelings of curiosity and regret associated with making a decision:
‘and that has made all the difference’.
In the first stanza, Frost describes the junction where two different roads split from the road he was walking on. He must have come to a ‘y’ junction or fork in the forest road. It must have been autumn because the leaves were ‘yellow’. The poet describes his long curious gaze down the road he didn’t take. The first road he looked at was a mystery, hidden by a bend.
In the second stanza, Frost states that both roads seemed equally nice to a traveller like himself:
‘as just as fair’.
The only difference was that one road had less signs of wear from travellers and walkers:
‘Because it was grassy and wanted wear’.
‘Wanted’ means lacked. The unworn look gave that road a ‘better claim’.
Then, Frost changed his mind. He decided that both roads were in fact equally worn.
In the third stanza, he provides another image of autumn by referring to the leaves that covered both roads. There was no sign of a footstep on the leaves of either road on that morning:
‘In leaves no step had trodden black’.
Frost writes that he decided to stick to his decision about the second route. He consoled himself by saying that he would take the first road he looked at on another day. At the same time, he doubted whether he’d pass that way again.
In the final stanza, he expects he will have regrets in the future about the road he didn’t take.
‘I shall be telling this with a sigh’.
Frost expects that sometime in the future he will regret the decision he had to make in the wood. He then summarises the first and second stanza, by stating how he decided on his route:
‘and I-I took the one less travelled by’.
Note the hesitation as shown by the repetition of ‘I’
Finally, Frost predicts that in the future he will claim that his choice of road that morning in the yellow wood ‘made all the difference’. He expects that his decision at the fork in the road will shape his life or destiny.
The theme of this poem is the direction you take in life:
‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference’.
The theme of this poem is the poet’s inner conflict in dealing with difference:
‘sorry I could not travel both’.
The poem shows how difficult it is to make a choice:
‘sorry I could not travel both and be one traveller’.
The theme is that people would like to avoid decisions.
The theme of this poem is that people don’t like to miss out on possibilities:
‘I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence’.
The theme of this poem is indecision:
‘Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same’.
The poet shows that human beings are never satisfied:
‘sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller’.
The poet shows his tendency to change his mind:
‘Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back’.
The poet values a fresh or individual approach:
‘having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear’.
The poet urges that people should be individuals and not follow the majority:
‘I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference’.
The poet shows that humans cannot fulfil their intentions:
‘I doubted if I should ever come back’.
Humans cannot control their destinies.
Tones
The tone at the start is factual:
‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood’.
Then the tone becomes regretful or sorry:
‘sorry I could not travel both’.
Sometimes the tone is curious and fascinated:
‘long I stood and looked down one as far as I could’.
Sometimes the tone is optimistic and calm:
‘Then took the other, as just as fair’.
Sometimes the tone is confident and certain:
‘the passing there had worn them really about the same’.
Sometimes the tone is gloomy:
‘In leaves no step had trodden black’.
Sometimes the tone is offhand:
‘Oh, I kept the first for another day!’
Sometimes the tone is doubtful and dithering:
‘Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back’.
Sometimes the tone is rueful or sorry:
‘I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence’.
Sometimes the tone is awkward or faltering
‘ and I-I took’.
Sometimes the tone is pleased and full of pride:
‘I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference’.
Imagery
The central image is of the poet standing at a fork in a wood in autumn trying to make up his mind about which direction to take.
There are images of the season, of nature and of travel.
Two images show the season of autumn:
‘a yellow wood…
‘lay in leaves…’
There are five images of nature:
‘a yellow wood…
the undergrowth…
it was grassy …
lay in leaves …
in a wood …’
There are ten images of the poet or other people walking on a journey:
‘Two roads diverged …
And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveller…
long I stood and looked down one as far as I could…
Then took the other, as just as fair…
it was grassy and wanted wear…
the passing there had worn them really about the same…
both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black…
knowing how way leads on to way…
Two roads diverged in a wood,
I took the one less travelled by…’
There are nine images of the poet making a simple decision and dealing with the consequences. The poem contains many examples of the language of choosing:
‘And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveller…
long I stood and looked down one as far as I could…
Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim, because …
Though as for that …
Oh, I kept 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 travelled by…
And that has made all the difference.’
On a deeper level, the poet may be making a comparison between the fork in the road and decision-making. Each road represents a journey. The poet must choose only one. The bend in the road and the undergrowth stand for the hidden aspect of the future in one journey.
The leaves that no one has walked on stand for the isolation of the poet. He is not following a lead. He has to step into the unknown.
If you wish to, you can refer to this comparison as an analogy.
An analogy is a parallel image.
The comparison or analogy is an image for the poet’s inner conflict.
The traveller and the fork in the road represent an inner conflict in the poet, a dilemma. A dilemma is when you face a difficult choice between two things. The analogy or comparison shows how it was a no-win-situation for the poet.
Without this analogy or comparison, we would know a lot less about Frost’s feelings regarding his decision.
If you read the poem on this level, you will see that making a moral choice is the subject of the poem.
Sound effects
Alliteration
[Alliteration is the repetition of first letters.]
Note the two ‘L’ sounds in this quote:
‘lay in leaves’.
This sound helps to emphasise the amount of fallen leaves in the wood.
Note the two ‘w’ sounds in this quote:
‘wanted wear’.
This sound helps to emphasise the smoothness of the fallen leaves in the wood.
Assonance
[Assonance is repetition of vowels.]
Note fourteen various ‘o’ vowels in the first stanza. In particular note the four ‘o’ vowels in the first line:
‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood’.
Assonance creates a musical effect.
Consonance
[Consonance is repetition of consonant sounds.]
Note the seventeen ‘l’ and ‘ll’ sounds in the poem. In particular, note the three ‘l’ sounds in the following:
‘equally lay in leaves’.
This repetition emphasises the way leaves covered the forest roads. Consonance is also a musical effect. Find more yourself.
Sibilance
[Sibilance is repetition of ‘s’ sounds. It is consonance involving ‘s’.].
Note the ten ‘s’ sounds in the second stanza. In particular, note the three ‘s’ sounds in each of these quotes:
‘as just as fair’ and ‘because it was grassy’.
This sibilance emphasises the beauty and freshness of the scene in the wood. It creates a musical effect.
Rhyming
There is a regular rhyming pattern in this lyric. The pattern is as follows:
abaab cdccd efeef ghggh.
In this pattern the first, third and fourth line of each stanza rhyme. The second and fifth lines of each stanza rhyme.
For example in the first stanza, the two end sounds are ‘ud’ and ‘oth’. Remember that the spelling doesn’t make the rhyme but the sound does.
Internal Rhyme
[Internal Rhyme is a word or sound rhyming within a line]
Note how the word ‘way’ occurs twice in this line:
‘how way leads on to way’.
Note the repetition of ‘ages’ in this line:
‘Somewhere ages and ages hence’.
Cross Rhyme [a word or sound rhyming across two or more lines]
Note the sound ‘assy’ repeated in this quote:
‘Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there’.
Rhythm
There is a regular rhythm created by the four beats per line.
For a detailed view of Rhythm in Frost’s poetry read the notes on 'Mending Wall’. Each line has the same beat. Most lines in this poem contain eight syllables.
Even this line of ten syllables is typical of the tempo or beat:
‘Because… it was grassy… and wanted… wear’.
[Two syllables…four syllables…three syllables…one syllable]
Note the four units of sound that the voice divides the line into. This is the tempo or beat of the line. In each beat, there is one stressed or loud syllable.
The regular rhyming and other sound effects help to maintain this regular rhythm. The run on lines and everyday phrases help make the poem seem very natural to the ear. The majority of the lines have no pauses or caesura. Full stops, commas and colons in the middle of a line create a pause, known as a caesura, in the middle of the line. These pauses slow the rhythm to show feelings of tension or indecision. In some lines, the rhythm is broken by a caesura. This demonstrates the poet’s indecision. The following quote is a good example of this tendency:
‘Then took the other, as just as fair’.
The comma interrupts the rhythm and can be called a caesura. This pause shows hesitation as the poet makes a difficult choice. Thus, rhythm matches meaning. Always connect rhythm to meaning if you choose to comment on it.
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