"The Road not taken" by Robert Frost

On “The Road not taken”

0312101

施幸妤( Class A)

Literarily speaking, the first-level meaning of this poem written by Robert Frost is pretty obvious. A traveler comes to a fork of the road and needs to decide which way to proceed so that to continue his journey. After some mental debates, the traveler picks the road "less traveled by." It is a choice which has “made all the differences” in sights and conditions of his journey. This is the surface meaning I can perceive from the poem “The road not taken”.

In my opinion, the deeper second-level meaning in this poem is not too hidden either. It describes the tough job of making choices that every people have to face while traveling on the road of life. It is a poem concerning about decision-making. As we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. As soon as we came to the world, we face all kinds of decisions------friends, hobbies, favorite food, life style and then the road of life we’d like to take. In this poem, the author is choosing a road to take. Road shall have various implications and here it represents a road of life. To decide which road to take is important as it may decide you a totally different life. The dilemma is that we could only choose one rather than try them both. Then while walking on the road we have struggled to pick out, we may still feel pitiful and are in memory of another one, the one we wouldn’t have a chance to take. Then it becomes an unfading memory in our mind and at the same time a mystery simply because we are not able to taste it. It is the mentality of a decision-maker. I claim that this poem is depicting vividly the mental feelings of a person who has just decided his life’s way while are still concerning about another possibility of his life if he has chosen another different path. I have ever read something in one of Aileen Zhang’s novels and I think it is demonstrating a similar philosophy to this poet, “in everyman’s heart, there shall be two lovers, one is the red rose and the other is the white. If he married the red, then the white one blossomed in his heart while the red one gradually faded. If what he has got is the white one, then the red one became the most precious memory and the white were to be rotten. People feel sorry for the thing they haven’t chosen. The most unforgettable thing in the world is always the thing you are impossible to get. The most attractive road is the road you did not have an opportunity to take.

Sorry", "sigh" and “doubted” make the tone of poem somewhat gloomy. He realizes he probably won't pass the way again. So the former road not taken by him becomes a forever pity which would be carved in his mind.

This is a preview of the whole essay

“Two roads”, “couldn’t travel both”, “be one traveler”, the contradictory feeling in the poem is obvious. It is not easy to make a decision. Two roads and one traveler, it is impossible for one traveler to travel two roads both. “As far as I could” means the author himself is trying his best to make a meticulous review on both of them and hope to make a decision as perfect as he can. The second and third part of the poem describes a tough mental struggle and the author is making all his efforts to support his own decision for it is “perhaps the better claim”. Finally he is determined, but sighs: yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I could ever come back. I can sense the most attached sentiment from his inner heart. He has chosen his road to take, while the road not taken will become an unfading memory existing in his brain, like the rose which wasn’t possessed by man. Every time a person recalls the decisions he has made all through his life, what impresses him most is always the “road” he missed------the road not taken. Then he said: I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. What is the difference? What happened if he has chosen the other one? It is a mystery. Mystery creates memory. “Life is like a box of chocolates：you never know what you＇re gonna get.” So we either never know what we are gonna get if we have made a totally different decision. Then we sigh and feel sorry for ourselves. This poem is a slightly mocking satire on a perennially hesitant “traveler” who always wondered what would have happened and what kind of life he shall now have if he had chosen his “path” differently.

When my friend and I discussed this poem, she argued that “the road not taken” is the road less traveled by rather than my interpretation as the road I did not take. And she thinks that the author isn’t regretting or feeling pitiful about his own choice. He is just telling us his story: well, many years ago, when I was making my life-important decision, I was courageous enough to choose the less taken road which has made all the difference of my present life yet knowing I may have no chance to come back. He is satisfied with his own choice and the path he has taken. This poem is to express his sentimental feelings when he is looking back though his life。 So it is a poem of individualism and to praise the spirit of pioneer. He is proud of himself of choosing the road less taken because it made all the difference. In his mind, the differences may be good.

I think her claim is also reasonable if I could see the title from a different aspect. Then it may be emphasizing the road he himself has taken as his life’s road though it is a road less taken by other people. “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the differences.” The author may be feeling satisfied with his status quo and be proud of the “differences”. But how can she explain the author’s “sorry and sigh”?

Anyway, different people get different “life” from a same poem.

References:

1《张爱玲全集》

2http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/frost_road.html

3http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/infousa/AmReader/GB/p535.htm