American Literature Author
Robert Lee Frost (born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died January 29, 1963, Boston, Massachusetts), American poet who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations.
Robert Frost’s life was marred by a series of tragedies. First, the early demise of his father, later the deaths of his children, and then the loss in business. However, all these hindrances could not destroy his writing talent. He graduated from Lawrence High School as a poet but could not polish his poetic abilities due to the unfavorable luck. His first poem, “My Butterfly: An Elegy” was published in 1894. Various poets such as Robert Graves, Edward Thomas, and Robert Brooke used to meet him and encourage him to write poetry. During his visit to England, he became friends with Ezra Pound, who later helped him in his publications. He published “A Boy’s Will” in 1913. Later, in 1916, in his book “Mountain Interval” he presented a perfect combination of narratives and lyrics in his poetry. “Selected Poems” and “New Hampshire” hit the shelves in 1923. He became so much popular with his simplicity in poetry that it earned him four Pulitzer Prizes. Besides poetry, he produced the updated version of Biblical story, A Masque of Mercy, in 1947. Furthermore, he was the first poet honored to recite a poem at the Presidential Inauguration of John F. Kennedy.
Robert Frost added more colors to the world of literature. Despite having a traumatic life, he secured a reputable place as a literary man with his creative and thoughtful ideas. The early demise of his father and his children provided him with an insight to feel the intense pain of loss and express it in simple and ordinary language. He documented these ideas in his poems and plays so well, such as “After Apple-Picking” , “Mending Wall” and “Out- Out” have become household names on account of their deceptively innocent themes. Moreover, his ideas about social outcasts and love for nature are reflected well in his works. The recurring themes in most of his poems are love, death, beauty, man and the natural world, and struggle. Robert Frost used literary devices that turned to visual and sensual imagery, metaphors, similes, and symbolism to create a unique style.
Robert Frost ’ s Works
Best Poems: His popular poems include: “After Apple-Picking” , “Mending Wall” , “Birches” , “Out-Out” , “Fire and Ice” , Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
Best Plays and Prose Books: His famous books and plays include: “A Way Out: A One-Act Play“ , “A Masque of Reason “ , “A Masque of Mercy” , “The Notebooks of Robert Frost, edited by Robert Faggen” , “Selected Letters of Robert Frost.”
Written in 1915 in England, "The Road Not Taken " is one of Robert Frost' s—and the world' s—most well-known poems. Although commonly interpreted as a celebration of rugged individualism, the poem actually contains multiple different meanings. The speaker in the poem, faced with a choice between two roads, takes the road "less traveled, " a decision which he or she supposes " made all the difference." However, Frost creates enough subtle ambiguity in the poem that it' s unclear whether the speaker ' s judgment should be taken at face value, and therefore, whether the poem is about the speaker making a simple but impactful choice, or about how the speaker interprets a choice whose impact is unclear.
The Road Not Taken
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.
POEM ANALYSIS
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;
1The speaker, walking through a forest whose leaves have turned yellow in autumn, comes to a fork in the road.
2 The speaker, regretting that he or she is unable to travel by both roads (since he or she is, after all, just one person),
4. stands at the fork in the road for a long time and tries to see where one of the paths leads.
5. However, the speaker can't see very far because the forest is dense and the road is not straight.
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,
The speaker takes the other path, judging it to be just as good a choice as the first, (6)
and supposing that it may even be the better option of the two, since it is grassy and looks less worn than the other path. (7&8)
Though, now that the speaker has actually walked on the second road, he or she thinks that in reality the two roads must have been more or less equally worn-in. (9 & 10)
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.
Reinforcing this statement, the speaker recalls that both roads were covered in leaves, which had not yet been turned black by foot traffic. (11& 12)
The speaker exclaims that he or she is in fact just saving the first road, and will travel it at a later date, (13)
but then immediately contradicts him or herself with the acknowledgement that, in life, one road tends to lead onward to another, so it's therefore unlikely that he or she will ever actually get a chance to return to that first road.(14 & 15)
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 speaker imagines him or herself in the distant future, recounting, with a sigh, the story of making the choice of which road to take. (16 & 17)
Speaking as though looking back on his or her life from the future, the speaker states that he or she was faced with a choice between two roads and chose to take the road that was less traveled, and the consequences of that decision have made all the difference in his or her life. (18, 19, & 20)
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