Poet's Corner

"The Road Not Taken"

Robert Frost

Poem explanation

1    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 



5    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 



10   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,



15   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,



20   And that has made all the difference.

Source: Exploring Poetry, Gale, 1997.