Famous Inspirational Poem

This poem by Robert Frost (1874-1963) is probably one of the most famous and celebrated American poems. The poem depicts the agony of a decision making and the rewards of forging your own path. The subject of the poem is faced with a decision of taking the "safe" route that others have taken before or breaking new ground. He says that he took the "road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." He finds that making original and independent choices makes life rewarding.
The Road Not Taken has four stanzas of five lines. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB.

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I think you are correct that the poem may be about a higher calling to pursue the best way. I also can agree as you stated he may have meant something else. Or he possibly did mean what you...

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Famous Poem

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost By more 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

Listen to Robert Frost read his poem, "The Road Not Taken"

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The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

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Has this poem touched you? Share your story!
  • Jerry Ogles by Jerry Ogles
  • 2 years ago

No one knows for certain the religion of Robert Frost. He seems to have been Unitarian or perhaps even agnostic; but whether intended or not, his poem on The Road Not Taken contains a strong spiritual implication. We are all confronted in life with choices. The great mass of mankind travel the road that is more worn by the footprints of others. We do not desire to be different. But the Road Not Taken is the higher Road that is chosen by sound judgment and not a desire to 'follow the crowd.' I do not believe Frost had this theme in mind when he wrote the poem, but the words ring true to the choice every person makes in life - to live honorably above all else, or merely conform to the lifestyle of others. The Narrow Way leading up is certainly less traveled than the Broad Way that leads down and down.

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  • Steve Jones by Steve Jones
  • 2 years ago

I think you are correct that the poem may be about a higher calling to pursue the best way. I also can agree as you stated he may have meant something else. Or he possibly did mean what you said and also something else. I wonder if he meant the road you take is the one that leads on to new choices and you play with the idea of going back to something that seemed interesting and in time it becomes, as most cases do, an impossibility. That then makes all the difference in that you must accept what you chose because you can never really go back to the same situation. I have gone back a few times to try to set some things straight about my life e.g. places where I used to live or work. It was a hollow feeling. Either things had changed or I had changed to the point where fixing that certain something from the past could never be. All I could do was accept my losses and my choices going forward to where I was now and, though with some regrets, accept that maybe there was some gladness.

This is my favorite poem. I first read it in high school. Throughout my life I think I have stood at a crossroad many times. Sometimes I made the right decision and sometimes I did not. But no matter which choice I made, I learned from it. And it seems the more mistakes I made the less I made. I guess that's the reward of wisdom.

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  • Alex Sarich by Alex Sarich, South Wales, UK
  • 3 years ago

Robert Frost, I just love the ease he falls into his verses, and how one can capture his colorful images of nature. I feel I'm with him on his famous, "The Road not taken" and it inspires me to write.

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  • Kumari Weerasooriya by Kumari Weerasooriya
  • 5 years ago

There are several reasons that make me love Frost's poems. Regular rhythm and rhyme give his poems a musical touch. The philosophy expressed through his poems is also a significant factor which is highlighted in the saying, "Poetry begins with delight and ends in wisdom."

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  • Debproshad Halder by Debproshad Halder, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
  • 5 years ago

"The Road Not Taken" is a psychological battle that drives humans always. We are born and born with two options. We have to choose as we cannot taste both at a time. Light comes and night goes. But we also have a mind that is not satisfied with what we have and what we achieve. We crave for that road to take as if it could have changed our life someway.

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  • Kumari Weerasooriya by Kumari Weerasooriya
  • 5 years ago

I have studied Frost's poems. I love them because of the philosophy of life Frost expresses through them. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" taught Mahatma Gandhi, one of the great leaders in the world, and also teaches us the meaning of human life. "The Road Not Taken" too educates the readers to look at life with a broad vision, specially at critical situations when decision making is difficult. I also love the musicality of Frost's poems as he has said, "Poetry without rhyme and rhythm is like playing badminton without a net."

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  • Dalton by Dalton
  • 7 years ago

A true masterpiece by Robert Frost, just as Fire and Ice.

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  • Terry Michael Mendez by Terry Michael Mendez
  • 7 years ago

I am a great fan of Robert Frost. I consider myself a poet lover, and I read many different types of poetry, but I find myself favoring Robert Frost the most!

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  • Kritika by Kritika
  • 7 years ago

I myself am a poetess and I love to look up poems by unknown authors.....but Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is definitely a poem I wish I had written.

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