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Rate this poem:4.5 / 116 votes

Robert Frost 1874 (San Francisco) – 1963 (Boston)

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.

About this poem

The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is an iconic poem about making choices and taking risks in life. Written in 1916, the poem is set in a forest where the speaker finds himself at a fork in the road and must choose between two paths. The poem speaks to the idea of taking risks and forging your own path in life, and the overall message is that it is better to make your own decisions and be true to yourself, even though it might be hard. Through the use of metaphor and symbolism, Frost's poem is a timeless reminder of the importance of making conscious decisions and taking responsibility for our choices.  

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Modified by acronimous on February 16, 2023

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Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. more…

All Robert Frost poems | Robert Frost Books

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Discuss the poem The Road Not Taken with the community...

15 Comments
  • fran_c
    Robert Frost was John F. Kennedy's favorite poet and 'spoke' this one, among others, at his inauguration in 1961.
    LikeReply4 months ago
  • carolb.62305
    Im so very happy that you've brought this site back..!!!
    LikeReply 18 months ago
  • Blindlove4you29
    Just as two roads separate in the forest create a difference, in the same way body and soul separate and create a difference in life.
    LikeReply8 months ago
  • Lebutler50
    I thought it was informative on our life choices. It is better to experience life than to say you never attempted it and never grow.
    LikeReply8 months ago
  • vandhana_k
    Spend my worries on potery newspaper.
    LikeReply8 months ago
  • yomihabib
    It need more imageries.The poem is flat to understand.What message are you trying to convey to the readers.Nice work
    LikeReply8 months ago
  • jerrywlawrence2666
    A Classic. A Timeless Tale Of Choices, My Friendz.
    LikeReply9 months ago
  • author177
    Reminds me that even the seemingly insignificant ones can shape our destiny in unexpected ways. Nice read
    LikeReply 210 months ago
  • cokerrogers
    Beautiful poem Robert . I’m looking forward to hearing new ones from you.
    LikeReply 110 months ago
  • JoeStrickland
    Classic Frost
    LikeReply 310 months ago
  • Philipo
    The road less traveled. The hard way, the only way. That movie in the 80s educated us in it's unique way.
    LikeReply 110 months ago
  • dougb.19255
    I am so tired of people applying the word iconic. It has lost all specificity. It attempts to picture the best of the best. But it has lost the salt of its blessing through sloppy usage.
    LikeReply 211 months ago
  • luisestable1
    Many things could be said about this famous poem. First, it is written in tetrameters, and the foot is the iambic one. The rhyme-scheme is 1, 2, 1, 1, 2.
    About what the poem tells one could say that Frost is very tricky here. This poem is more than making the right decisions in life. The speaker sees two roads and takes the one less traveled by. Why is it less traveled? The poem does not say. Only that the speaker takes it for he thinks it wants wear. And he laments he cannot travel both. Thus he takes the more appealing, to him, road and he says that made all the difference.
    There is much hidden meaning in these verses And it is a mistake to think that this poem is only about making the right choices in life or having the smart to make the right choices in life. There is more than that in the poem. But that is the popular understanding of this very famous poem by Frost. 
    LikeReply 211 months ago
  • dougb.72572
    Frost has one about a farm home with adjacent fruit stand outside a large city. Occasionally slickers stop to ask for car fuel. They pay little attention to the produce, the fruit of honest labour. These are dumb, boring farm folk? Not so. 
    LikeReply1 year ago
  • Tewabe
    ''Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
    I took the one less traveled by,
    And that has made all the difference.' I got everything here in some lines of Frost's poems. thank you .
    LikeReply 32 years ago

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