"I shall be telling this with a sigh ages and ages hence". Please explain what do you
understand by it?
Answers
Answer:
If a person claims that Robert Frost s poem The Road Not Taken is a tremendous inspiration to them, they probably do not understand the poem as well as they think they do. The Road Not Taken could be one of the most misunderstood poems ever written. The popular interpretation glorifies the speaker s decision to choose one path in a forest over another path, and his decision being to travel the one less traveled. This choice is usually considered a bold move symbolic of the speaker making a cautious decision in his life to break from the crowd and try something different. However, a careful reading of the poem reveals problems with the common analysis that can be solved through analysis of the character of the speaker and the aspects of Frost s word choices.
The title is the first part of the poem that signals the popular analysis is incorrect. Frost s choice to title the poem The Road Not Taken gives the reader a negative feeling because the road described is the one not taken as opposed to the one the speaker actually did take. The opening line of the poem states two roads diverged in a yellow wood. Why did the speaker describe the woods as yellow? Yellow in this sense might signify the cowardice he faces and that the speaker is afraid of the woods, obstacles, and circumstances surrounding the two roads. Continuing with the first stanza, the narrator states that he looked down one as far as I could. He only looks down one of the roads before he decides that that path is not the right choice for him, chooses the other, and continues his journey. The speaker does not ponder which road to take for long, disproving the popular interpretation that the speaker makes a difficult decision between two options before finally choosing the less traveled path. The second and third stanzas also offer evidence contradictory to the poem s usual explanation.