WEIRD STORY OF ROBERT FROST' POEM THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Robert Frost occupies unique place in the American Literature. He is one of the rare figures that achieved both critical acclaim and enormous popularity and somehow managed never to compromise himself. His poems have this weird combination of simple structure and deep thought-provoking ways it can be interpreted. This feature makes Frost' poetry a fine well for the ones thirsty for the deep thinking.

***

Aesthetically speaking Frost stands in-between the all-guns-blazing early XX century modernist poetry and late 19th century introspective poetry. As James M. Cox characterized him "Though his career fully spans the modern period and though it is impossible to speak of him as anything other than a modern poet, it is difficult to place him in the main tradition of modern poetry." 

His approach was different from his contemporaries T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound - unlike them he never really broke away with the traditions of old. Instead he embraced them and allowed to transform naturally within his writing. But ultimately - he pursued and succeeded at the same goals - to "make it new" and evoke different kind of sensation.

Restrictions of meter and form he took upon his writing let him to escape from the modernist dogma of a constant search for new and/or alternative and simultaneously doing it on his own terms.

Frost most famous poem is arguably "The Road Not Taken", here's how it goes:

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.

It was written somewhere in 1915 as a joke to a close friend and fellow poet Edward Thomas with whom Frost had spent a lot of time while Frost resided in England. One thing that always bugged Frost about Thomas was his radical, unrelenting indecisiveness. It could go as far as Thomas would be struggling to choose which path to take even if both of them are leading to one place. Thomas always thought that they should have taken take the other way and that they've missed some majestic moments. And he always whined about it like it was some kind of universal tragedy. Truly, a romantic mind! In relation to Thomas "The Road Not Taken" served as a friendly poke on the shoulder with the obligatory "relax! / take it easy!" afterwards.

The Road Not Taken describes a false dilemma that is troubling the protagonist. It is written in four stanzas of five lines with only two end rhymes in each stanza. The flexible iambic meter has four strong beats to the line. Everything seems to be simple. Protagonist must choose which path to go but he can't because "reasons". Also - both ways are essentially the same and there will be no difference if he takes any if them. Alas!

Curiously enough, it wasn't originally recognized as a joke - quite the opposite. Even Thomas himself took it seriously and this was arguably one of the reasons he later decided to enlist and go to war. It is easy to see why - it is a perfect thought-fodder. Because of its elusive nature poem was severely misinterpreted over time as a confession about a decision of vast importance. But if you actually read it - you'll notice that the poem itself denies such interpretations. It is actually a snarly retort ripostes of a man with a certain greed for whining about seemingly lost possibilities that eventually give nothing and wasted chances in the tiniest of things that add to the nix with the zilch.

It is fascinating how the poem spins theme of choice. Poem works as an ironic commentary on a nature of choice which is mostly arbitrary ruled by such vaguely defined things as instincts, contingencies of unpredictable manner and hazy possibilities. It slyly mocks the entire bravado of "making big decision" pointing out the choice protagonist makes is an illusion of making difference while all this pandering is more of a vanity than something that really takes place. 

Poem leaves the reader wondering what was the point of even considering what difference would make taking this and that path since it is all the same. The answer, however, is hidden in plain sight. It is not about the road - it is about the journey. And since the destination of the journey is unknown to the protagonist - it is what scares him.