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.
One of the major themes in this poem is indecision. In reality, the persona of the poem has a choice to make between two paths in the woods. Both have been worn and he would like to take both but he can only walk one. Therefore, he decided to take the one that was less traveled. Metaphorically, though, the narrator has to choose between two options, one will be easy to take and will make his life easier. However, the other one, which has been chosen less often, will perhaps be the better moral choice. This poem could be related to the idea of "staying on the straight and narrow". While sometimes it may be easier to take a path in life that is smoother, the narrator says that the path that is less traveled is the better one. Taking that path made a difference in his life.