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.
Robert Frost from his collection Mountain Interval published in 1916.
I wish I had written this. There are certain things that stay with you as you journey through life. This poem is one of them. Okay some clever critic has written that it is not about individualism but a piece of satire, a bit of dig against one of Frost's companions who found it difficult to decide where to go for a walk, but and this is the gift of great poetry, it speaks to me, and allows me to get some comfort from it. Anyway its one of my top ten favourite poems.
1 comment:
I've always liked that poem too - but I never heard that explanation. But you know what - if he could make such a beautiful and meaningful poem by poking fun at someone else, then he really had some masterful talent.
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