Frosty Ambiguity

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I enjoy this poem. Robert Frost is easily one of my very favorite poets. He's incredibly simplistic, but when you dig there's so many levels to his poetry. The thing I love about this particular poem is that people don't realize there are two interpretations.

Most people I talk to think "The Road Not Taken" is about nonconformity. The speaker, though daunted by the challenge of blazing a new trail, chooses to take the less traveled road rather than follow the crowd. And that's totally valid. I'm not saying anybody's wrong. However, I've always kind of thought it was about regret.

First I look at the title: "The Road Not Taken." Does that mean the road not taken by the rest of the people? Or the road not taken by the speaker? If he's talking about the road HE didn't take, it's interesting that he chooses to use that as the title of the poem. He's preoccupied with the option he didn't choose.
(I'm really happy this isn't an essay and I don't have to have answers because this next paragraph is totally aimless and inconclusive speculation.)

I really think it's interesting that despite the second-to-last line, the speaker says TWICE that the roads are pretty much the same. Twice. He says "the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same" (9-10) and "both that morning equally lay/ In leaves no step had trodden black" (11-12). I don't really know what to think about that. My best theory is that you don't really know which road is going to be the best road, or which road everybody else is going to take. From the fork in the road they both look the same and you can't have a good gauge of which one's better in the long run. I mean, he even looks down the first road as far as he can TRYING to gauge it, but it's "bent in the undergrowth." He literally can't see what's around the corner.

The next line that catches my eye is 13-- "Oh, I kept the first for another day!" That "oh" seems important to me. Frost's lines are usually incredibly fluid, but the "oh" and the comma put a break there that bothers me when I read it out loud. It has to be significant. To me it's mournful, like "Oh how I wish I hadn't done that." He doesn't think the first road is undesirable-- he's planning to get back to it later, but he doesn't get the chance. That sounds regretful to me.

That last stanza is really the kicker for me, though. What kind of a sigh is he telling this story with later? A sigh of relief? A sigh of regret? I lean toward regret, but it could just as easily be the other. Either way, the choice "has made all the difference" (20) in his life. For good? For ill? I don't know.

Normally I would back up my opinion entirely and not point out the evidence for the other side of the argument the whole time, but this poem is EXTREMELY ambiguous, and I think it's so for a reason. The speaker didn't know which one to choose. We as readers don't know for sure exactly what he means by any of this. I really did start this post thinking it was about regret, but I think I've changed my mind. I think the whole point is that we oftentimes have no way to know what the future's going to hold, what decisions lie ahead, or what choices will ultimately affect the rest of our lives. Life is full of ambiguity. And that's why this poem is so ambiguous.

Ah literature. I love thee so.