I shall be telling this with a sign
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
Took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. (Frost 751)
The narrator of this last stanza of The Road Not Taken is Edward Thomas, eluding that the choice he has just made may be the wrong, or the right; but only time will tell. On the surface, Robert Frosts poem is a story about a walk on a wooded road, but it had deeper meaning to him and how he feels about the road. Also, the poem has a universal meaning about life and the choices it presents to you. Further, the poem is magnificently written in the typical rhyming Frost style.
Lastly, a sigh might just be a sigh to you, but in this piece it means much more to Frost. Frosts 1916 poem The Road Not Taken is an example of how Frost writes poetry enthralling the reader with a grand opening and an unexpected ending that must be thoroughly analyzed.
Frost wrote The Road Not Taken while living in Gloucestershire, England in 1914 though he was an American citizen. His friend Edward Thomas and he would often go on walks so Thomas could show him special plants or sights. When Thomas would choose a path, it was certain that every time he would regret the choice he had made sighing that they should have taken a better direction (Robert Frosts Lesser Known Poems). When Frost wrote this he supposedly pretended to carry himself as Thomas just long enough to write the poem.
Furthermore, Frost first wrote the poem as almost a joke for Thomas. But, it later held more value for him, as an example of life choices.
The Road Not Taken is literally story about a walk on a road one fall morning. In the opening line it tells of how the road broke into a y. This simple y in the road eludes also to Frosts first line of the poem and his choice of yellow (y) to describe the fall trees. Frost talks about the two roads and how they are the same, comparing them.
No one else is on the road with the narrator. He is alone, contemplating the decision by himself. There is a decision that is going to be made by the narrator as to which road equally worn to take with no help from anyone. He knows that the road he takes will lead him forever, foreshadowing that the choice he does makes could be a regret or satisfaction. Frost then said in the present tense last stanza that the narrators choice was the road less traveled.
The road in the poem is not just a road; it is a symbol of choices in our lives that we must make.
Frost implies that the narrator is sorry that he could not take both roads, see two different outcomes before the decision is made. The outcomes can not be seen though, looking as far as he could the road would bend and disappear into the undergrowth. He says to himself three times in the poem that both roads are equal, but in the final outcome he chooses the one less traveled, wanting wear (Frost 750). Only one road may be taken, one decision made, and one final destiny for a lifetime. The narrator could live to regret that he did or did not take another path. Also, his decision may be satisfying to him, not looking back at what may have been but instead of what is here, what he is living for right now.
The Road Not Taken is masterfully written not just with forceful opening words and an ironic final stanza but also with rhyme scheme. Frost wrote it in abaab meaning that the last word in the first, third, and fourth lines rhyme. Also, the last word of the second and fifth lines of the poem rhyme. The rhyme scheme is rhymed tetrameter, meaning that there are four beats in a line (Robert Frosts Lesser Known Poems). Frost always used some rhyme scheme in his poems often joking that writing free verse is .
