Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening” both portray weighing of choices in life. The former is about youth and
experiencing life and the latter is about old age, or more probably, an old spirit wearied
by life. In both poems the speaker is in a critical situation where he has to choose
between two paths in life. In “The Road Not taken” the speaker chooses the
unconventional approach to the decision making process, thus showing his uniqueness
and challenging mentality while in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” the
speaker seeks a life without any pain and struggle but at the end, he has to comply with
social obligation, which reflects his responsibility towards the society.
In the poem, “The Road Not Taken”, the speaker has to make a big decision in his
life. This poem talks about a person who comes across an intersection or a fork in the
road and he has to choose which way to follow. The road is a metaphor of the choices we
make in life. As the speaker ponders his choices, he feels strongly that whatever “road”
he takes will be for good. So he must weigh his decision well in order to come up with
the best choice and not end up regretting it. The speaker considers his thought wisely. He
says, “And looked down as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth”, by
giving it a proper thought he weighs his choices well and in the end, chooses to follow
the road “less traveled”. “The Road Not Taken” signifies a difficult choice in a person’s
life that could offer him an easy or hard way out. There is no assurance of what lies
ahead; if there will be success or sorrows. But a person has to take risk making up his
mind about which way to choose because this is the first step of heading into success or
failure in life. At the end of the poem, the speaker says, “that has made all the
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difference”, which shows choosing the harder path gives the speaker the fulfillment he
sought.
By choosing the harder path, the speaker declares his rebellion against the popular
opinion as represented by the other road. He decides not to conform to society and takes
up a less popular choice. When considering his choices the speaker shows the typical
human reaction. He considers taking both paths at first. He says, “Oh I kept the first for
another day”, but later confesses he “doubted if [he] should ever come back” (13-15).
Thus the poem’s significance lies in the speakers making a decision by choosing a road
and moving on with his life. The act of choosing the road represents his uniqueness and
the fact that he is always moving forward, even without stopping.
Like “The Road Not Taken”, in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, the
speaker has to make a big decision in his life. He has to choose between isolation and
social obligation. At first glance, this poem might denote stopping in the woods to escape
the hustle and bustle of city life. Different symbols in this poem though reveal that stop in
the poem could be referring to death. In this phrase “Between the woods and frozen
lake”, the wood becomes a symbol of life where frozen lake signifies death. When the
speaker reaches the woods, he finds a world offering perfect, quiet and solitude, existing
side by side with the realization that there is also another world, a world of people and
social obligation. Both worlds have claim on the poet. He stops by the wood on this
“darkest evening of the year” to watch them “fill up with snow”, and remains there so
long that his “little horse” shakes his “harness belts” to ask if there is “some mistake”
(lines 1 to 10). That little horse’s action reminds him of the “promises” he has to keep
and the miles he still has to travel. (13-16).
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The speaker wrestles with his choice in the third stanza where he considers
whether he should stay in the woods or not. The horse, on the other hand, is his
connection to the civilization and life. It is signaling the speaker, by shaking its bells to
leave the woods and go back to where he belongs. Meanwhile, the speaker is considering
going back but at the same time, he sees how nice the “wind” is and how it could blow
away all his woes and worries. In the end, the speaker realizes that “dark and deep” wood
and “frozen lake” (13-14), which represent death, is not his answer. He has promises to
keep. He does actually connect to life and therefore decides to keep journeying on. He
has many things to do; many miles go to before he stops. Presumably, the social
responsibility proves stronger that the attraction of the isolated woods, which are “lovely”
as well as “deep and dark” (13).
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening” provide us contrasting and sometimes similar glimpses of life. “The Road Not
Taken” is about taking control and living life. “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening”
entails the desire for rest, perhaps due to the speaker’s feelings of weariness from facing
life’s struggles. The poet also explains the tough choices people stand before when
traveling the road of life. Sometimes people regret the possibilities of the road not
chosen, sometimes people feel proud about the road they have chosen.
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Works Cited:
1. Frost, Robert. Robert Frost’s Poems. Ed. Louis Untermeyer. New York: Washington
Square Press, 1968. 194.
2. Frost, Robert. Robert Frost’s Poems. Ed. Louis Untermeyer. New York: Washington
Square Press, 1968. 223.
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