“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is the most widely misread poem in all of poetry.
Most people think the point of the poem is that you should take the road less travelled, march to beat of your own drummer, etc.
This is a misreading.
First of all, we are repeatedly told that the two roads looked basically the same.
Some lines:
“Then took the other, as just as fair"
"Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,"
"And both that morning equally lay"
20 line poem, about 25% of them devoted to sameness of the paths.
It matters that he took one and not the other only because choices beget choices (and, importantly, foreclose others) and this is life.
We then tend to ascribe meaning and narrative retrospectively to those choices.
The traveler laments that he can’t take both paths, have all the experiences, NOT foreclose certain choices by making others:
“And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler”
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence,” the traveler tells us. And when he does, he will ascribe meaning to his choices. He will say he took the one less travelled (even though they were the same) and it really DID make all the difference, as he says, because by making that choice he definitionally could not make the other.
Logan / Logan
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2024-09-13 00:35:13
Author Public Key
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2024-09-13 00:35:13Event JSON
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"content": "“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is the most widely misread poem in all of poetry. \n\nMost people think the point of the poem is that you should take the road less travelled, march to beat of your own drummer, etc. \n\nThis is a misreading. \n\nFirst of all, we are repeatedly told that the two roads looked basically the same. \n\nSome lines: \n\n“Then took the other, as just as fair\"\n\n\"Though as for that the passing there\nHad worn them really about the same,\"\n\n\"And both that morning equally lay\"\n\n20 line poem, about 25% of them devoted to sameness of the paths.\n\nIt matters that he took one and not the other only because choices beget choices (and, importantly, foreclose others) and this is life. \n\nWe then tend to ascribe meaning and narrative retrospectively to those choices. \n\nThe traveler laments that he can’t take both paths, have all the experiences, NOT foreclose certain choices by making others: \n\n“And sorry I could not travel both\nAnd be one traveler”\n\n“I shall be telling this with a sigh\nSomewhere ages and ages hence,” the traveler tells us. And when he does, he will ascribe meaning to his choices. He will say he took the one less travelled (even though they were the same) and it really DID make all the difference, as he says, because by making that choice he definitionally could not make the other.",
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