The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken is a poem, published in 1916, by Robert Frost. As a traveler on the road of life, the narrator wants to join two different roads, but he can only choose one of them. He chooses the one less traveled, and that "makes all the difference."

Related Topics:
Poem - 1916 - Robert Frost

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The most straightforward explication of this poem is that it is a call for the reader to forge his or her own way in life and not follow the path that others have already taken.

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However, it is also possible to read it as an ironic statement against such notions http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/road.htm. Frost is said to have written the poem as a sly joke on his friend Edward Thomas, and to have warned audiences, "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem - very tricky."

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