Perhaps the speaker knows not to give into regrets. Of course, the word “sigh” could refer to a sense of relief. That optimism is immediately deflated when he “doubted” he would “ever come back” to the junction and have the option to take the other road.Īnother example of this regret is the sorrowful “sigh” in the last stanza which suggests he may never forget “The Road Not Taken”.
Perhaps the speaker is experiencing a moment of regret over his impetuous decision.Īfter the long and ponderous sentence, the short and melodramatic exclamative “Oh, I kept the first for another day” sounds a little ridiculous. In other words, the roads were “equally lay” and had “the same” qualities. However, when he walks along this route, he begins to realise the “leaves” had not been “trodden black” by his “passing there” and it was “worn… really about the same”. The first twelve lines of “The Road Not Taken” consists of just one sentence focusing on the speaker’s careful consideration of his two options, looking at “one” road for a “long” time and then impulsively taking the “other” because it seems “grassy” and “less traveled”. In the second line, the speaker mentions he is “sorry” he could not “travel both” roads and this sense of disappointment is reinforced several times in the poem. Although the speaker in “The Road Not Taken” seems to be confronted by a trivial dilemma, Frost uses the situation to explore how our identity can be determined by the more important choices in life. Our lives are shaped and defined by the choices we make every day, so we deliberate over competing arguments, worry about picking the wrong option and try to anticipate the impact of our decisions. He decides to take this “less traveled” road and navigate his own way through the woods.
Turning his attention to the “other” road, he initially believes it is “just as fair” and might even have the “better claim” because it was “grassy and wanted wear”. This is an obvious symbol for our uncertain future. Unfortunately, he can only see “down” the first road until it “bent in the undergrowth”, making it impossible to anticipate where it would end. Travelling through the “yellow wood”, the speaker is forced to choose between “two roads” which continue in different directions.
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