The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


After reading this poem, I was not able to fully comprehend it immediately. However, I read a poem analysis and managed to better comprehend this poem. According to the analysis, this poem is one of the best-known, but most misunderstood poems in the world. It is basically about the importance of making the right choice.

In the first stanza, the speakers describes his position. He is in the middle of the woods and comes across two roads. He would like to take both roads, but doubts that he would have the chance, thus he carefully looks down both roads for a long time. In the second stanza, the speaker looks down one road but decides to go down the other. This is because he feels that the second path seems less worn and has less traffic. He then describes that the difference is not much, but only a little. In the third stanza, he continues to describe the two paths, how the fallen leaves are still fresh and have not been stepped on.

The last stanza is the tricky one. Firstly, the "sigh" in the first line can mean two things; one, the speaker has chosen the right path and sighs in relieve; two, the speaker has chosen the wrong path and sighs in disappointment. Secondly, the speaker himself is not too sure what this "sigh" means as he says "somewhere ages and ages hence:". This mean that the speaker is yet to know whether he had took the right path. Thirdly, the word "difference" in the last line is directly affect by the connotation of "sigh" in the first line. If the "sigh" meant that he is relieved, then "difference" would mean a positive difference; if the "sigh" meant disappointment, then it would be a negative "difference".

In all, I found this poem very tricky and it indeed boils down to making the right choices. Making the right choices would ultimately determine your future.