The poem moves from a fantasy of staving off choice to a statement of division.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry i could not travel both.

Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear;

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And be one traveler, long i stood.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry i could not travel both.

Such has been the case for robert frost’s widely beloved poem from 1915, “the road not taken. ”.

Regularly recited at important rites of passage, the poem has repeatedly been misinterpreted as a celebration of the courage required to take the path “less traveled” (line 19).

Because the poem isn’t “the road less traveled. ” it’s “the road not taken. ” and the road not taken, of course, is the road one didn’t take—which means that the title passes over the “less traveled” road the speaker claims to have followed in order to foreground the road he never tried.

the road not taken is a narrative poem by robert frost, first published in the august 1915 issue of the atlantic monthly, [ 1] and later published as the first poem in the 1916 poetry collection, mountain interval.

Though as for that the passing there

Because the poem isn’t “the road less traveled. ” it’s “the road not taken. ” and the road not taken, of course, is the road one didn’t take—which means that the title passes over the “less traveled” road the speaker claims to have followed in order to foreground the road he never tried.

the road not taken is a narrative poem by robert frost, first published in the august 1915 issue of the atlantic monthly, [ 1] and later published as the first poem in the 1916 poetry collection, mountain interval.

Though as for that the passing there

That so many people misinterpret this line has become famous in itself.

The road not taken.

And be one traveler, long i stood.

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

And looked down one as far as i could.

Or you know its moves, its progression of steps forth and looks back, the way you half remember a joke:

Written in iambic tetrameter, it employs an abaab rhyme scheme in each of its four stanzas.

And looked down one as far as i could.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and i — i took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

And be one traveler, long i stood.

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

And looked down one as far as i could.

Or you know its moves, its progression of steps forth and looks back, the way you half remember a joke:

Written in iambic tetrameter, it employs an abaab rhyme scheme in each of its four stanzas.

And looked down one as far as i could.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and i — i took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

Again, however, frost refuses to allow the title to have a single meaning:

The road not taken, poem by robert frost, published in the atlantic monthly in august 1915 and used as the opening poem of his collection mountain interval (1916).

Written in iambic tetrameter, it employs an abaab rhyme scheme in each of its four stanzas.

And looked down one as far as i could.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and i — i took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

Again, however, frost refuses to allow the title to have a single meaning:

The road not taken, poem by robert frost, published in the atlantic monthly in august 1915 and used as the opening poem of his collection mountain interval (1916).

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The road not taken, poem by robert frost, published in the atlantic monthly in august 1915 and used as the opening poem of his collection mountain interval (1916).