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.
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.
Imagery is very important in The Road Not Taken because the narrator is describing the setting for most of the poem. Much of the imagery is visual as the persona tells about the scenery. There is also a little bit of auditory (sound) imagery when he sighs. The paths that divide in the forest are portrayed as grassy, fair, and about equally worn. The imagery contributes a lot to the meaning of the poem because, without the description of the forest and the paths, it wouldn't makes sense that the narrator was indecisive about choosing a certain path. Because both of the paths were said to be not trodden, the reader can also understand that in the end, the narrator will lie to people by telling them that he "took the one less traveled by".