The Road Less Traveled Essay Research Paper

The Road Less Traveled Essay, Research Paper Seth Courter Eng. 146 Comp. II 11/15/00 Chi, Poem Essay Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Less Traveled” amazingly first written was not intended to convey certain aspects of what it is now interpreted as. Life is a road with different paths. Taking one path over another forever changes the course of ones life for the good or bad. Though Frost’s poem as he told was about him getting separated from his friend in the woods. It can’t be denied that this poem clearly shows his beliefs, that it is the road that someone chooses that makes them who they are today or who they will become. With the first line opening “And Sorry” already you get a sense of regret. “…I could not travel both” what opportunities will be missed?

That is why it is difficult to make a decision. You can’t travel down every path you want. It isn’t possible to do everything. “,long I stood And looked down one as far as I could” Never the less you still have to make a decision in where you want to go. He looks down the path to where it bent in the undergrowth, trying to see an outcome. This isn’t possible though, as any choice you make, the complete outcome is never known. “Then took the other as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim,” The other path he looked at, looked really the same as the other but he thought one having the better claim. If they both look just as fair, something must make it have the better claim. “Because it was grassy and wanted wear;” The next two lines may begin to

confuse. “Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same,” One path looks like it needs wear to him thought it may not to other people. He was interested in taking that path not of the majority. Something he hasn’t done before makes him want to experience it. The traveler then if choosing ‘the path less traveled” only shows his personality. Not following the crowd but doing what he wants, what he has never done. Experience what is new, different. To wear the inexperienced down to experienced. The leaves fallen cover the ground of the path he wants to take. “And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.” This statement again reassures the reader and also the traveler, this is the path less traveled. Each time you

come upon a decision it is new to you. It is a first experience, it is a path with leaves yet to be turned black from wear. Desire would have it that you can experience two different choices and see their consequences. “I kept the first for another day!” that is his desire to be able to come back to the path. “Yet, knowing how way leads to way” shows that one decision leads to a new different one. In reality you cannot come back to the decision you chose to waive. This is proven by the last line is this stanza, “I doubted if I should ever come back.” This choice he makes is forever sealed. In the last stanza “I Shall be telling this with a sigh”. Regret emerges from the beginning and once more at the end of the poem. Not necessarily at the end of his life but,

just later on when time has passed. “Somewhere ages and ages hence:” He will have some regret that he didn’t take the other path. This is why he sighs. Thinking, if taking the more traveled path he could have been able to not have experienced certain aspect of his life that he disliked. Again reiterating “I took the one less traveled by,”. Although he seems to have regrets about what he has chosen, he still remains confident and proud for the decision he made. “And that has made all the difference.” What made the biggest difference, what really seems to be important is doing what one desires. If one does take the road less traveled in their own mind, you will not be the person could have been. He would have not become the person that he is today, that is what has