FREE ESSAY ON ROAD NOT TAKEN

ROAD NOT TAKEN

Andy Fegley
Mr. Snyder
9/30/99
The Road Not Taken
Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of the 
continuous journey of life. There is never a straight path that leaves someone 
with a single direction to head. Regardless of the message that Robert Frost had 
intended to convey, his poem The Road Not Taken, has left many 
interpretations for his readers. It is one's past, present, and his attitude with which 
he looks upon his future. In any case however, this poem clearly demonstrates 
Frost's belief that it is the road that one chooses that makes him the man who he 
is.
It is always difficult to make a decision because it is impossible to wander 
what opportunity lies at the other end and what will be missed out on. The 
narrator and also the traveler exemplifies this by saying And sorry I could not 
travel both, in line two of the poem. There is a strong sense of regret even 
before the choice of the path was chosen. This shows that in one lifetime, it is 
impossible to travel every path which you are confrunted with. In an attempt to 
make a decision, the traveler looks down one as far as I could (stanza 1, line 4). 
The road he chooses leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much 
as he strains his eyes to see how far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his 
vision, to the point where he can not see where the road will lead. It is the way 
that he chooses here that sets him off on his journey.
The traveler then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the 
better claims (stanza 2, line 1). What gave off the better claim is that it was 
grassy and wanted wear (stanza 2, line3). Obviously he wanted the path with 
less wear because the majority of the other people took the other path therefore 
calling it the one less traveled by (stanza 3, line 4). The fact the traveler 
selected this path over the more traveled one, indicates the type of personality he 
has. It is one that likes to be a leader and not a follower. This individual's 
personality is the type that likes to explore and expand beyond it's limits. His 
experimenting personality noticed the leaves that covered the ground. His 
decision was made on which path he would take when he made the statement 
since the time they had fallen no step had trodden black (stanza 2, line 7). 
Perhaps Frost does this because each time a traveler comes to this point they have 
to make a decision, something new, somewhere they have never been before. He 
expresses the desire to travel both paths by saying I kept the first for another day 
(stanza 2, line 8). However the speaker realizes his decision is a permanent 
choice, knowing how way leads on to way (stanza 2, line 9). This is common 
sense now that his choice will affect all of his other choices down the road in life.
Once again at the end of the poem the regret sets in, realizing at the end of 
his life, somewhere ages and ages hence (stanza 3, line2) he changed the path of 
his life, wandering what was down the other road, which he did not take. 
However, he remains proud of his choices in life's decisions and realizes that his 
choice made him who he actually turned out to be.
The poem, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost has many valid 
meanings. Depending on the reader of the poem it may be interpreted in a 
different way or even misinterpreted at certain points throughout. He may have 
been trying to achieve a universal understanding. In other words, there is simply 
a traveler who makes a decision in his life that changed the direction of his life 
from what it may have otherwise been.