The Road Not Taken Summary.

 

Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

In this article we will talk about a very short introduction of The Road Not Taken. About the author of the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’. Summary of the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’.
 

Introduction to ‘The Road Not Taken'

‘The Road Not Taken’ is one of Robert Frost’s most familiar and most popular poems. This poem has a beautiful and grave theme. This poem symbolises our life on various occasion full of confusion and dilemma. The poet says that the path that we do not choose is our life is ‘The Road Not Taken’. The poem is made up pf four stanza pf five lines each. The lines in each stanza rhyme in an abaab pattern.
 

About the author of ‘The Road Not Taken’

Robert Frost was born on 26 March 1874, San Francisco, California, United States and considered one of the famous witters of American Literature. He became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, enrolled at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1892, and later at Harvard University in Boston, though he never earned a formal college degree.
 In year 1895, frost married Elinor Miriam White. In 1924 he won the first of ‘Pulitzer Prize’. Apart from this, he accepted many other prestigious positions throughout United States for the next 4 decades. Robert frost is believed a literary giant for his consistent style and depth for his poetic work. He died on 29 January 1963, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.    
 

Summary of ‘The Road Not Taken’

Stanza 1: “Two roads diverged ……… in the undergrowth;”

 In this line, the poet describes that he was walking in the middle of a forest, where all the all the leaves of the tree had turned yellow. And during this journey, he reaches a point from where the path splits in two. Because of this the poet gets into thinking which way to go and which one should not. Because he was only a single traveller and because of this he could not walk in both the ways. He had to choose one way or the other. Which was not easy for the poet, and for this reason the poet stands for a long time at the crossroad and sees a path as far as his eyes can see. And on both of the path his eyes get lost in the dense forest bushes. He can see the path till it bends. It happens in our life also when we have to go with one choice and such situation demands a deep brooding.
 

Stanza 2: “Then took the ……… about the same,”  

In the second stanza, the poet wants to tell us that by standing at a crossroads in the middle of the forest. After thoroughly looking at both the paths, the poet chooses the second path which had more grass growing than the first. The poet felt that this second was actually a better option for him as he could see that it was still full of grass, unlike the other path which was almost barren. As a result of this the poet concludes that before that the travellers who had travelled this dense forest chose the earlier path, and when they passed through that path, the grasses were bent down by pressing on their feet. Which looked like a barren road. And that is why the poet choose another path because no one used has passed through there yet and that’s why the grasses were green.

 
Stanza 3: “And both that ……… ever come back.”

While the poet is contemplating which path to take and which not to take, then seeing both the paths, he realises that till this day no traveller has reached so far in the forest and he is the first traveller who has reached this far. And that is why there is no fresh footprint that can tell that someone has just set foot on these grasses. Then the poet decides that he will go on the other path alone. The poet starts thinking that he will come again in the first path some other time. While he knows that there is no certainty about it. Whether he will ever be able to pass through the first path or not. The poet knows that these paths of forest keep meeting one after the other and their direction keeps changing, but the poet does not know whether after going on this path he will be able to come back to this repetition again or not.   

 
Stanza 4: “I shall be ……… all the difference”

In this stanza the poet wants to say that the choice taken by him was to go in another way. It was not easy at all. It was rather difficult that whenever the poet would think about his decision in the future. Those hearts will be filled with restlessness. Now the poet is thinking that whenever the poet will remember about this decision in future, then only one thought will come in his heart that this decision has made a lot of impact in his life. He removed the simple path through which all the people were walking. And this decision has had some good effects on his life as well.