The Road Not Taken 

by Robert Frost 

"Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where
there is no path and leave a trail."
 
-Robert Frost
 
Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the
map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a
straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in
which to head. Regardless of the original message that
Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, "The Road
Not Taken", has left its readers with many different
interpretations. It is one's past, present and the attitude
with which one looks upon the future that determines the
shade of the light in which one sees the poem. In any case
however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost's belief that
it is the road that one chooses that makes the person
he/she becomes..
 
"And sorry I could not travel both..." It is always
difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not
to wonder about the opportunity lost; what one might miss.
There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is even
made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it
is impossible to travel down every path. In an attempt to
make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I
could". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown,
as does any choice in life. As much as one may strain and
try to see as far the road stretches, eventually it
surpasses one's vision and the end cannot be seen. It is
the path that is chosen, that sets one off on the journey
of life. 
 
"Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the
better claim." What made it have the better claim is that
"it was grassy and wanted wear." It was something that was
obviously not for everyone because it seemed that the
majority of people took the other path therefore he calls
it "the road less traveled by". The fact that the traveler
took this path over the more popular, secure one, indicates
the personality of an individual; one that does not want to
necessarily follow the crowd but do more of what has never
been done, what is new and different.
 
"And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had
trodden black." The leaves had covered the ground and since
the time they had fallen no one had yet to pass by on this
road. Perhaps Frost does this because each time a person
comes to the point where they have to make a choice, it is
new to them, somewhere they have never been and they tend
to feel as though no one else had ever been there either.
"I kept the first for another day!" The desire to travel
down both paths is expressed and is not unusual, but
"knowing how way leads on to way", the speaker of this poem
realizes that the decision is not just a temporary one and
he "doubted if I should ever come back." This is his common
sense speaking and acknowledging that what he chooses now
will affect every other choice he makes afterward. Once you
have performed an act or spoken a word that crystallizes
who you are, there is no turning back, it cannot be undone.
 
Once again at the end of the poem, the regret hangs over
the traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. The
individual realizes that at the end of life, "somewhere
ages and ages hence", there might be regrets about having
never traveled down the other roads instead. Yet, one
should recognize that it was the path that was chosen that
molded the individual. "I took the road less traveled by
and that had made all the difference." 
 
There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and
Robert Frost may have intended this. He may have been
trying to achieve a universal understanding. In other
words, there is no judgment, no specificity, no moral.
There is simply a narrator who makes a decision about
his/her life. It allows all readers from all different
experiences to relate to the poem.