The Road Less Travled By

"Two paths diverged in yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both,

and be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other, 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."

-Robert Frost

I take to meanings from this poem, in the words of Albus Dumbledore, "It is not our abilties, but our choices that make us who we are." In short, our life is not decided by fate or destiny. It is not predeterminded by three old women with only one eye between them. It is not woven on a tapestry. We determine where our life will go. And it is the small choices the matter most in the end. The traveler's life would have changed completely if he had taken the other road.

The meaning Robert Frost intended was actually mocking human nature, and oiur tendency to be dramatic. As he said the two paths were really, the same. Perhaps one was slightly different, but all and all they were the same. But years from now, the traveler will be telling the story and saying "I took the road less travled by, and that has made all the difference."

I aplogize for all the formatting problems. Please email your take on the poem dabanana7@gmail.com