Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken : Critical evaluation

Robert Frost’s famous poem The Road Not Taken was first written in 1916 and published in the collection ‘Mountain Intervals’ and published along with  Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening. The poem is a statement on the choice that one has to make in the journey of life and how that influences the possible outcome of life. The poem is about the possibilities and opportunities that come in a man’s life, the opportunities that come and that go. It is a onetime choice, a choice that is sometimes impossible to retreat, and a lot about decision making and its influence in life.

Critics have defined the poem as both positive and negative. The title of the poem itself fails to help in this possible perspective. The Road that has not been taken – has it provided success or does the poet regret his decision – this leaves us wanting for more. In “Stopping by the Woods on a snowy evening” – the poet says “The woods are lovely, dark and deep / But I have promises to keep,/ And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep “. Is it this ‘miles’ that the poet wants to cover, has it brought the desired result, what difference has it brought in the poet’s life – all these and more shrouds the entire compass of the poem. The poet’s exquisite imagery, symbolism adds to the beauty and sensitiveness of the poem. The poignant irony in the last section is however a conclusive statement on life’s journey and a commentary on the universal aspect of good decision making and choice in life. The poem can be read both as a commercial venture and as being spiritual enlightenment.

One day as the poet was travelling he comes across a fork road. He has to take one of the roads. The poet is hesitant and unsure which road to take. The roads diverged in a yellow wood possibly indicating that the leaves of the trees have turned yellow, may be the season is autumn. The road is the journey of life, the fork road – a point in one’s life when he is forced to make a choice. The poet feels” sorry” that he could not take both the roads. Sorry for himself and sorry for the road that he could not tread. Very rarely life can give a second choice when man has the opportunity to make the best of a known way. The poet was one traveller who could not make a hasty decision and stood waiting for long deciding. He tried to measure the distance and come to a conclusive decision “As far as I (he) could” to where the roads bent. But this again was covered in ‘undergrowth’ – undergrowth suggesting mystery and suspense.

The poet took a road ‘as just as fair’ – the ‘as’ suggesting a comparison, possibly with justice (just) that is being done and ‘fair’ that is good enough and therefore had a better claim for travellers. The poet is in a mood of self-justification here, trying to indicate that his decision in choosing the other way was just as fair and good. Because it was ‘grassy’ (not yet explored) and ‘wanted wear’ (wanted exploration). But then the poet is aware and conscious that the passing of people had worn them all the same indicating that in life there have been some people who chose this way and the other, what happened then the poet does not know. He is skeptical and deciding becomes increasingly difficult for him. It is that juncture of life when paths are opened but one still seems confused and perturbed in choosing the path that will reach him to his desired destination.

It was the same on this morning, when the paths remained equally covered with leaves, continuing the imagery that was started by the word ‘yellow’ in the first line and reminds us so much of Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind–

“O Wild West Wind, thou breathe of autumn’s being

Thou, from whose unseen presence, the leaves dead

Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red

Pestilence stricken multitudes “

Frost's leaves have not been stamped upon; they have not been trodden black. This does not mean that the path has not been travelled on but to the poet it comes as absolutely new and not walked on. Probably this is an association of morning with the beginning of the journey of life. To each, this appears as a new morning. In the same self-reflective and self-justifying mood, the poet declares “Oh, I kept the first for another day! “. The interjectional exclamation reveals the suddenness of the decision. This ejaculation is true of life. There are moments when one has to make a choice with an abruptness without any foreseen result in sight. He doubts whether life will ever give him an opportunity to return back and explore the other way. In life one has to make the most unexpected decisions. Opportunities do not come twice. But one has to take a chance. If the chance taken becomes successful then opportunity succeeds and life defines it as right decision and if the chance taken fails then life defines it as failure. It is all a matter of choice. But when the choice is cloaked in a riddle, all ends result in epiphany.

The expression ‘sigh’ in the last stanza transports us to a nostalgic memory that probably pains (?) the poet. As readers we begin to wonder why the poet is sighing. Did he take the right decision? Is he regretting his decision? Questions that remain answered and lingers on with “And miles to go before I sleep/ and miles to go before I sleep” of Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening. The reiteration insists on continuation of the journey of life. For the poet ‘and I’ is significant - the ’I’ becomes epiphany for he recounts ‘I took the one less travelled by,/ And that has made all the difference.’ This difference has been brought by his decision. Personally this was not a happy period for Frost. His mother had died of cancer in 1900 and in 1920 he had to send his younger sister to the mental asylum.  Professionally he was made an honorary member in Harvard and the period resulted in an out pour of poems and writings.

Frost here is not one man, but he becomes the symbol of universal man in his quest for destination in this journey of life.  The poem can also be read as a search of man for spiritual enlightenment.  Futility and fruition are the two forks of the journey of life. Failure and success the two end destinations. Or probably both paths may be futile and lead to failure or be fruitful and lead to success but it provides the realization and hence becomes an epiphany. The poem therefore, becomes a statement of life, “all the difference” is a noun phrase, the poet suggests that this difference will be brought by the decision that one takes in life. One is responsible for the decisions he makes and in most cases, life does not give a second chance.

The poem is written in a lucid, colloquial style. The use of words is succinct and to the point and conveys adequately the poet’s essential grip over his subject and style. The poem is written in four stanzas of five lines each and the rhyme scheme is abaab with Iambic Pentameter and tetrameter lines alternately. The compact nature and subject of the poem is time travelling and true for all human generations. The poem The Road Not Taken is a masterpiece in the true sense of the term.