The Road Not Taken - Analysis

The structure of the poem is a straight forward series of five line stanzas. Each stanza presents us with a single idea. The first sets up the metaphor which is then extended through the rest of the poem. The second takes us onto the decision making process. The third considers the consequences of the decision, whilst the final stanza is one of the reflections that will be undertaken at a later date.

The everyday language used adds to the seemingly artless simplicity of the idea behind the poem. After all we have to make decisions in life without any guarantees as to whether they are the best for us in the long term. We all recognize that making choices precludes other avenues which we may never be able to return to. Most of us will at some point look back on the choices we have made and wonder if they were the right ones for us. However I would argue that Frost is doing far more than this in the poem.

Although the language is simple, Frost's sentence structures are not. There is ambiguity running throughout the poem. In the first line we are told that the traveler is standing in a "yellow wood". Is the wood yellow because the foliage is young and fresh, meaning that this is a wood in springtime? Or is the foliage yellow because it is fall?

If it is springtime and we assume that the time of year equates with the age of the traveler, then this decision is one that has to be taken very early on in life. This interpretation is backed up by "Somewhere ages and ages hence" as the speaker recognizes that sometime in the distant future he will return to this day and this decision to wonder if the choice he made was right for him.

However the description of the wood in fall works equally well. The traveler is still making decisions that will affect his life well into middle age. I would suggest that the ambiguity is deliberate and that Frost is pointing out that making choices is a factor throughout our lives. And even if we consider that experience will teach us to make the right choices there can be no certainty of the outcome regardless of our age.

The second stanza shows the confusion of having to choose between two almost identical paths in life. The ambiguity here is created through the archaic sentence structure. The two phrases linked by the semi colon show the confusion.

It would appear initially the choice will be made simply based on the frequency with which one path has been followed compared to the other. But the second part of the sentence makes it clear that there really is minimal if any difference in the usage of the paths. Frost is highlighting the way we make choices based on infinitesimal differences; choices that will take us on a journey of no return. Journey's that will affect the way our lives will turn out.

The third stanza seems clear enough in its meaning. Both paths had not been followed recently. The choices for this traveler are his own; he will not be taking a regular route whichever path he chooses. It is almost axiomatic that once we make one choice it will lead us to further choices that direct us away from the place we are in right now. But the exclamatory "Oh" at the beginning of the third line in this stanza makes us stop to think. Why is he keeping the first one until another day? Why is it the first one? If it is his first choice, why is he not taking it? Is it his first choice or the choice most expected of him by others or by society in general? The beauty of this poem is that underlying its surface simplicity lays a wealth of suggestions that raise questions in the way that having to make important decisions in life raises questions for us all.

The final stanza recognizes that no matter what choices we make there will always be an element of regret for the choices we didn't make. Frost reveals the irony of being able to return in our thoughts to moments in our lives when we made important decisions whereas we can never actually return to that place physically and make a different choice. The sense of regret displayed by the speaker in the poem suggested by "with a sigh" shows that either he feels he is making the wrong choice or he wishes he could do both as in "And sorry I could not travel both".

Despite the idea in the second stanza that there was little difference in the traffic on either path, Frost seems to be now saying that he took the path least traveled. The final ambiguity in the poem, for me, is the last line. "And that has made all the difference" which can be taken in two ways. The difference can be positive or negative in its affect on the speaker. There is no doubt that one is left with a sense that choosing to be different may not always be a cause for celebration.

It is the ambiguity in this poem hiding under what appears to be a simple idea extended through metaphor that makes the poem so successful. It is the questions that it raises that show us the realities of decision making.