THE POET WHO TOOK THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

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.

The poet who took the road not taken – Robert Frost, well known as one of the most brilliant writers in American Literature, a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize - made important contributions to literature. He overcame the expected, and that is exactly what makes him notably unique.

The poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, one of his most well known poems, was firstly widely analyzed from the perspective of only two roads. The narrator had chosen one of them. Some readers, frequently, relate the lyric voice to Robert Frost itself. Indeed, Professor Kevin Murphy, in his lecture about Frost at Ithaca College has given that perspective of the poem. However, according to Professor Murphy, ‘there are many discrepancies between how Frost’s audience perceived him and how he actually was’. The popularity of Frost during his lifetime and the darker implications of his poetry can be found through the narrator of ‘The Road Not Taken’.

Professor Murphy contrasts the poem with Frost's life. If we analyze the poem based on Frost’s personal life there are many moment where he had to make important decisions. Frost’s father died when he was about eleven years old, he had a very difficult childhood. He had jobs he hated, when a young man. Also, in 1912, he had to decide to sell his farm and move with his wife and four young children to England. Over there, he invested the money from the sold farm, dedicating time exclusively to writing. Actually, it was at that time that he published his first collection of poems, A BOY'S WILL (1913), at the age of 39. It was followed by NORTH BOSTON (1914), which gained international reputation and from that time, he started to build a strong career as writer. Two years after he went back to USA, but now, to publish his books. In 1916, he was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. On the same year appeared his third collection of verse, MOUNTAIN INTERVAL (1916), which contained the poem 'The Road Not Taken’.

When Frost used the image of ‘ Ways’ to be chosen, in the poem, he knew very much about how one way can lead to another way. Robert Frost had already lived in England and had come back to USA. He had a family, a successful life as a writer. But instead of giving the perspective of two roads, Robert Frost gave much more. The lyric voice said that ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both (…)’, also at the end it says: ‘(…) Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.’ From the perspective of Professor Murphy he took another way, differently from the two he described at first. But for me, the narrator was just wondering about many choices we have in life. He was wondering how one can lead to another, and that can lead to another. And, at the end, we can find ourselves in a completely different way. When he says ‘(…) I looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;(…)’ it represents when we die, and after considered both ways ‘(…) really about the same, (…)’ because it doesn’t matter what way we choose, at the end it will be just different choices we made, death will be there for all of us. The ending will be the same.

Amazingly, once more Robert Frost was able to overcome the obvious. His poetry has become bigger than his own life. From apparent cheerful poem, it was revealed a deep and strong perspective of his work. A poem that can go from one perspective to another, from cheerful or obvious to dense it makes Robert Frost a man who travelled somewhere else, but not the common place. His carefully chosen words, created a new way, his own way to write poetry, making it so unique. Finally, Frost gave the perspective of a road not taken, because it is our own road. We can make choices, but is unpredictable as life all its consequences. We can stop, look for many ways, but who knows the end? And, who knows if or where that road chosen will find a roundabout and other new way ending somewhere else? Somewhere different from what we firstly thought would be the end? What really matters is to notice that there are ways, choices and unexpected surprises in life.

Reference

1. http://youtube.com/watch?v=adj-Xd642UY Accessed at 10 June 2010 at 10AM;

2. http://youtube.com/watch?v=SnWU29o2xwA Accessed at 10 June 2010 at 10AM;

3. http://youtube.com/watch?v=a5140uJOUDE&feature=related Accessed at 10 June 2010 at 10 AM;

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQDkG7_QHq4 Accessed at 19 June 2010 at 9 AM;

5. http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/robert_frost/biography Accessed at 20 June 2010 at 2PM;