The Road Not Taken
Symbolism 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.

Robert Frost

Road as Symbol:
Frost asks us to visualize a fork in the road in the middle of the woods. The speaker in this poem must decide which path to take. After looking down both, he takes the one "less traveled by," and then states that this choice "has made all the difference" in his life.

Without recognizing that Frost's forest road represents the road of life and experience, our understanding and appreciation of this poem remains limited and shallow. The two roads in this poem symbolize the speakers choice between two different metaphorical paths he must take. His comment at the end of the poem that this decision "has made all the difference" leads us to believe that this decision was an important one.

Frost is able to successfully utilize his well used "road" symbology because he artfully entwines it in a realistic and picturesque environment. His roads "bend in the undergrowth," are "grassy," and are covered with Fall leaves. His symbols become a world where the abstract notions of life and choice find concrete form.

Lesson Plan:
Ask your students to draw two parallel lines about four inches apart. Tell them that these two lines symbolize a road. Then tell them to brainstorm and jot down, between the lines, everything a road means to them. Ask them to also write down the experiences they might have on a road and what they might see on or beside a road.

After they have finished, draw your own road on the board. Ask your students to contribute their ideas as you write them down. When your road is filled, stop. You should have quite a variety of ideas filling your road. Discuss how a road makes a good symbol for life and experience.

Read the "Road Not Taken" with your students with the understanding that Frost's road is a symbolic one. Discuss the physical differences between the two roads and ask them what these differences might symbolize.

After your discussion, ask your students to draw a broad "forked" road. Tell them they are to put themselves in the speaker's place. Ask them to write, in the boundaries of both roads, two separate kinds of experiences they might encounter as a result of choosing one road over another.