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.

By Robert Frost

    When I analyzed this poem I started off by looking at it's form. Oddly enough it puts a small twist to the idea of a sonnet. Instead of a four by four, meaning four stanzas and four lines in each stanza, it consists of four stanzas with five lines in each. The sonnet is most noticeably attributed to Shakespearian poetry and with Shakespeare we usually attach iambic pentameter however Frost uses another twist to this. Instead of iambic pentameter he seems to use iambic tetrameter. Another interesting aspect that caught my eye was how Frost used and unusual rhyming pattern of ABAAB. The reason why I found it important to state those poetic styles is because the poem is overall about taking the path less traveled. Not only does Frost talk about that theme in his poem, it is also present in his writing style. Instead of looking for a deeper meaning within the diction, we can look for it in his actual structure style which made me personally enjoy the spin he puts on his poetry. I knew this was a famous poem before I chose it which is why I was initially interested however after reading it the first time I didn't quite understand what it was saying. Yes of course it's about a man looking at two different paths to take and sure it can be related to the everyday choices we make but the idea that the structure was also connected made this all the more worth while for me to read. I didn't need to completely understand it to get where he was going. In the end though, it was the search for the quirky structures that made it the most interesting. I love Robert Frost poems by the way...