What is the Road Not Taken really about?

by Dennis Millman
Exchange Senior Editor

     As well as being one of my favorites Frost's Path Not Taken  is one of the most misunderstood poems.  I have studied it many times for various classes and every professor has agreed that it is  about the same thing, hard work.

     Most often one reads this particular poem and turns the meaning into some sort of inspirational advice that says, "One should never take the easy way," rather work hard and you will get where your going. Having researched this poem further I have learned that it is not about that at all.  The following lines show that,

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.

It says that one of the roads was "grassy and wanted wear,"  this is the traveler's perception of the first path he looks down.   So he realizes that as one person he can only take one path at a time.  He then evaluates the other, "though as far for that, the passing there – had worn them really about the same."  They both are worn about the same, he backs up this claim by saying And both that morning equally lay – In leaves no step had trodden black .

     After realizing that both roads would require about the same effort to pass, the traveler sighs knowing that he will later retell the story of these two roads with some insincerity.  He will make it seem as though he took the road that required more effort and that he would not be who he was today had he not done so,

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.

It is the above stanza which manages to confuse people the most, because readers see the last two lines and apparently forget everything else that they have read leading up to them. 

     Now that I understand this poem the way it was meat to be interpreted, I respect it more.  Regardless of what path you take in life, you can control who you become.