NOTE: Here in this poem we have discussed the summary and explanation of the Poem THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost using easy language. The Words in the bracket shows the Synonyms of the previous word. So use that word according to your choice…Good Luck ..
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN BY ROBERT FROST
ABOUT THE WRITER
Robert Frost was a prominent poet in America during the 20th century. He was awarded the Pulitzer prize for four times. New Hampshire (1923) got him his first Pulitzer prize. It includes one of the most famous and acclaimed (approval, praise) poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Following lines from poem were a constant (steady, stable, regular) inspiration (motivation, encouragement) to the first Prime Minister of India Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, which he used to keep on his table all the time:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before l sleep,
And miles to go before l sleep.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry a second time in 1931 for his Collected Poems (1930) and in 1937 for A Further Range (1936), and yet again in 1943 for his collection A Witness Tree (1942).
ABOUT THE POEM
“The Road Not Taken” is a poem by Robert Frost from his collection Mountain interval. It was published in 1916. It is the opening poem in the volume. The poem admits (confess, declare) two common interpretations (explanation, analysis, understanding). Difference mainly lies in the way one interprets the last lines – either literally (exactly, accurately) or ironically (illogically, absurdly, inconsistently).
If it is interpreted literally, it is inspirational (encouraging, motivating) and individualist. However, critics universally interpret it as ironic (satirical, mocking. Sarcastic, tongue in cheek). – “The Road Not Taken.’ Perhaps the most famous example of Frost’s own claims (declare, maintain) to conscious (aware, mindful) irony. It is the best example in all of American poetry of a wolf in sheep’s clothing At one place Frost himself warned “You have to be careful of that one; it’s a tricky (difficult, complicated, delicate, risky, awkward, complex, problematic) poem – very tricky.”
The poem is important as it explains the poet’s outlook (viewpoint, attitude, point of view) on life.
SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
The poem talks about that time in life when one is to make a critical (dangerous, Serious, grave) choice. Sometimes the choice can change the entire course of life, which can be positive as well as negative. The poem starts with this situation only. The poet is standing at a point where two roads are diverging (move away, wander, depart).
The poet says that two roads went in two different directions in a pale (light, soft) forest. The poet felt Sorry, as he could not take both the roads being one traveller. For a long time, he stood there and watched one of them as far as he could. He tried to see the farther (beyond. further than) end where it took a curve (bow, turn, bend) towards the brushwood (branches).
The poet then chose the other road, which was just as fair and clean. He chose the road, which was covered with grass and lacked footmarks. Apart from that thing, both the roads were almost same. Both of them were equally trodden (compressed, packed down, crushed, compacted).
That day both the roads looked fresh and untrodden (unwalked), as the leaves of grass were standing straight. The poet sadly chose the second one. He kept the first one reserved some other day. He knew that one road leads mysteriously (strangely, oddly, puzzlingly) to another and therefore he was not sure that he would return to travel the other road. Thus, he was not sure whether he would return to the other road.
The poet further says that he will go on telling this incident with a sense of sadness in the times to Come. He would say that he met two roads at point in wood. He took the less travelled one and that made all the difference.
The poet says:
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The last lines can be seen as a declaration (statement, announcement, speech) of the importance of independence and personal freedom. “The Road Not Taken” seems to illustrate (demonstrate, show, point up) that once one takes a certain road, there is no turning back. Although one might change paths later on but the past cannot be changed.
CONCLUSION
It can be interpreted as emphasizing the significance of choice. And it is a thing to be considered (think, believe. Judge).In short the last lines place emphasis (stress. Importance, weight, prominence) on the choice made, not the opportunities foregone (unavoidable, inescapable).
