♥ Monday, June 29, 2009
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 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 traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This poem is about a major decision in Robert Frost's life. He examines the two paths he had to choose from in his life, just like how the narrator examines the two paths. The first path, leading to the undergrowth, was not as appealing as the the other path, because it had no obstacles. However, beyond these, he could not tell what each path led to and he knew that he is unlikely to return to this point after he made his decision. However, instead of subjecting to conformity, he chooses to take the road less, or not, travelled. This could be a inspirational poem to the readers, telling them that, for example, if they see wrong being done and the rest of the people are being apathetic, they should not follow what everyone else is doing and try to solve the problem instead of just keeping quiet and pretend nothing happened. However, the fact that he would retell this story with a sigh, could mean that either he regrets not knowing what would the other path lead to, or he is not sure whether the path he chose was truly better for him.
There was use of figurative language in the poem. The crossroads represents two choices in Frost's life. The undergrowth represents obstacles and thus, being the road which less people take, while the other road represents the one which everyone travels by. The yellow wood means that it was Autumn, and Autumn in poetry is
associated with
melancholy. The poet may have either been depressed because it was such a grave
decision that the outcome would change his entire life, or it could be used to reinforce the fact that the poet was sad that he could not know what lay at the end of both paths.
- Eugene
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