Poem #2: The Road Not Taken
A lone speaker walks in some “yellow woods” and comes to a fork in the path. He must
choose which path to take. He carefully looks down both paths and sees that one appears
more trodden than the other and chooses to continue down the “less travelled” path, only
to realise that both paths are essentially the same. Although he knew he never would, he
thinks about walking the other (well-travelled) path another day and much later in life he
thinks about how the path that he chose had “made all the difference”. Frost meditates on
the ambiguities of life’s journey in this poem: we do not know what paths we will travel in
life and how they will affect us. The content of this poem give me an opportunity to stop,
like the speaker, and reflect how my life is similarly a series of forks in the road. Frost uses
metaphor masterfully to communicate this sense of reflective pause. The road is a symbol
for life’s journey and the paths that “diverge” symbolise the life choices we face. It is in
Frost’s careful examination of both roads, seeing first their difference but ultimately their
similarity – that they were “just as fair” – that really made me think. Perhaps we don’t
actually have that much meaningful choice in our lives and “All roads lead to Rome”.