Lessons, choices, and change are the basic concepts to these writings. Both the poem and lyrics depict a man’s life; they are metaphorically related to a physical journey filled with many twists and turns. Throughout this journey, there are instants where choices between alternate paths have to be made; the route he decides to take is not always easy to determine. Strait describes as his road not being for the “faint of heart” or “those who play it safe and never stray to far”. Strait, wants to do the opposite; he believes that this is the way to live and to leave his mark. Frost symbolizes his choice between the two diverging paths. He must carefully weigh his options to make an optimal choice.
Both roads are seemingly “rough” and “wanted wear” and typically would not be the choice of some men stranded on the lonely road of life. Strait describes that he does not fear his choice of taking the long and rough road. Even though the road is less traveled by, he believes in change and that his life lessons will be revealed to him along the way. After vacillating between the two “fair” roads, Frost finally decides to take the road “less traveled by”; knowing he cannot see where it will lead.
Frost and Strait are both men who know the “less traveled” road represents the gamble of facing a more difficult path. They can go the common route, which is the more reliable, and have a common life. Alternatively, they know they can undergo the less common rout, which is unknown and often difficult, and have a unique life that would stand out above everyone else’s life. They both have hope to strive and achieve a more incomparable and satisfactory life.
As George Strait walks his never-ending road and Robert Frost is stumped between which roads to take, they are thinking that it is unfeasible to predict the outcomes of their decisions they make. They seem to know that it is essential to make those decisions fixed on nothing more than questioning which selection will provide fulfillment for them.
Strait describes that “those who choose to play it safe and never stray too far”, the “road less traveled” would not be a road for them. Men who go through life following the norms of what society has made, or taking the easy way out of things that are seemingly difficult would never make it down this long and difficult road. Strait must have had to make a choice to be one of those men or be another that was not going to take the easy way out anymore. He sings about change, probably realizing himself that those men really do not get anywhere in life.
Frost, on the other hand, presents man’s limitation in exploring life’s different possibilities. The narrator “sighs” at the end of the poem gratified with his choice to take the uncommon road, yet also sighing that he may have missed something on the alternate road. Making “all the difference” by taking the road “less traveled”, the speaker becomes a product of his decision. As successful as life’s turnouts may be, there is always regret wondering how another path taken in life brings about other experiences.
Frost and Strait both took a “less traveled” pathway but their reasoning behind their decision may not be so similar. Putting both into perspective now makes me realize a new point to the poem and lyrics. Those who choose the difficult ways of life all do it for various different reasons. It does not describe the type of man you are, but mostly the amount of spirit you have.
