Friday, July 17, 2009

The Road Not Taken

"The Road Not Taken" is a poem written by Frost Robert in 1916.
This poem literal interpretation is about a traveler who is faced with a choice between two roads. He has to make a choice and decide which road to travel on. He picked one road, one that has been less traveled by, because "it was grassy and wanted wear". Between the two roads, he picked the one that was "less traveled by".
The way I understand this poem is that this traveler has decided to take a step, a step for a change may be is his life. Now he is faced with two choices regarding the path that he should take. This path is depicted here as two roads, one that has been traveled a lot and the other less, but they are both "worn ...about the same". This traveler does not seems enthusiastic by the change that he has decided to encounter. He does not seem confident about his choice, this can be implied in the stanza where it is said " then took the other, as just as fair". If it was because he wanted to, he would have been more forceful about the reason why he took this path. The doubt can also be seen by the vocabulary that is being used in this poem, "perhaps", "doubted". Not only that he has made his choice with no confidence, he is not sure about going all the way to the path that he has chosen.
For him taking the road that he had taken "has made all the difference". The difference in what? Is it the difference in his way of choosing? Does he follow now his instinct instead of following the mass?
Choices, we are all faced with choices at least once a day and sometime some choices seem to be more important than others. And we are face with our own image in the mirror and have to decide which path to follow. At this point we either listen to the voice inside us or we listen to the "voices outside". But we have to make a choice and assume this choice until the end. Sometime it seems easier to follow the mass, thinking that this is the only way. But we tend to forget what is pulling us, we tend to forget what matter to our "individual" instead of caring about what other would do or would think. And it is only when we are face with ourselves that we can really see who we are and decide what is best for us, without following what seems to be the ideal path.

1 comment:

Bruce Berman said...

Nice work. Did you enjoy the poem?