'The road not taken' and 'Not my best side'

Authors Avatar

The Road not taken and Not My best side

The first line, "two roads diverged into a yellow wood," starts off the poem explaining 2 choices available to the author in life, using the extended metaphors of "roads" and "wood." As well, the word "yellow" is symbolism for the uncertainty Frost has in making his choice.

In the line "And sorry I could not travel both", the word 'both' immediately indicates that Frost wanted to take both the paths, but being 'one traveller', he had to make a choice. The choice, it is clearly shown, was not an easy one "…long I stood and looked down as far as I could…"

In the last stanza the narrator seems content with his choice yet he tells of it with a sigh: not so much a regretful sigh but a speculative one, ‘I shall be telling this with a sigh.’ He is resolving himself to the fact that even when ages and ages pass, he will still wonder what if he had taken the other road.

Join now!

There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and Frost may have intended this. He may have been trying to achieve a universal understanding. In other words, there is no judgement, no specificity, no moral. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision in his life that makes the man who he is now.  It allows all readers from all different experiences to relate to the poem.

Frost chose what appeared like a 'grassy' road that 'wanted wear' but eventually realized that both the roads had worn out equally. This again relates to life in that when ...

This is a preview of the whole essay