Wolfe Poem 2 Intro
“The Road Not Taken” is perhaps Robert Frost’s
most famous poem of all time, as its implied metaphor through use of the choice
of two very different “roads” in the woods, or paths of life, has been a
generational lesson since its publication that has clearly stood the test of
time. As one is exiting adolescence and entering the middle ground between the aforementioned
and adulthood, there are extremely difficult decisions to be made by no one
other than oneself, which is the basis for the nature metaphor of the poem.
Though the speaker “looked down one as far as (he or she) could/ To where it
bent in the undergrowth”, he or she was incapable of foreseeing the entirety of
the road from start to finish. For example, they would not be able to see the
bumps and twists along the way of each, just like one obviously cannot look
into the future before making decisions. At the beginning, both paths have the same
appearance, as the poem states, “And both that morning equally lay in leaves no
step had trodden black.” However, the didactic sense of the poem is exposed in
the last two lines: “I took the one less traveled by,/ And that has made all
the difference.” It is at this point that the reader understands that the
speaker is a wiser, more experienced figure and that though the less obvious
choice is the one less traveled by, that path is always the better choice.
most famous poem of all time, as its implied metaphor through use of the choice
of two very different “roads” in the woods, or paths of life, has been a
generational lesson since its publication that has clearly stood the test of
time. As one is exiting adolescence and entering the middle ground between the aforementioned
and adulthood, there are extremely difficult decisions to be made by no one
other than oneself, which is the basis for the nature metaphor of the poem.
Though the speaker “looked down one as far as (he or she) could/ To where it
bent in the undergrowth”, he or she was incapable of foreseeing the entirety of
the road from start to finish. For example, they would not be able to see the
bumps and twists along the way of each, just like one obviously cannot look
into the future before making decisions. At the beginning, both paths have the same
appearance, as the poem states, “And both that morning equally lay in leaves no
step had trodden black.” However, the didactic sense of the poem is exposed in
the last two lines: “I took the one less traveled by,/ And that has made all
the difference.” It is at this point that the reader understands that the
speaker is a wiser, more experienced figure and that though the less obvious
choice is the one less traveled by, that path is always the better choice.
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