An explication of “The Road Not Taken” The Road Not Taken could be interpreted in numerous ways. For someone who has never read this poem it sparked many thoughts just by seeing the title. It made me think of many crossroads I have come to throughout my life and what could have been if I had chosen a different path. Before I started reading it I wondered if Frost was writing about a specific path he had chosen or just life in general and the different paths one comes to in their life. Life is full of many decisions and the struggle to choose the correct path ,but a decision must always be made. I will now try to unfold the story and try to find out what Frost may have been trying to say. In the first line a traveler comes across “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” which tells the reader that he is at a crossroads in his life and he is now about to have to make a decision. He is unable to take both paths and must make a decision on which path to chose. He then states “And sorry I could not travel both” and seems to be somewhat unhappy that he could not take both. It is always difficult to make decisions because one always wonders what may be missed if one decision had been made rather than another. He realizes that he cannot travel both roads and now has to make a difficult choice. Attempting to make the best decision he “looked down one as far as I could,” trying to see the future of what each decision may bring. Both paths have unknown endings and although he attempts to see how both may go he cannot see where they lead. It is the way he will choose that will determine where his life will go. After choosing his path he “Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim.” He chooses one path because it seems to appeal to him more than the other and from what he could see has a more rewarding end. He did not choose it because it was the hard road or the road less traveled as he states “Though as for that the passing there had worn them really about the same.” He realizes that he had to make a decision at this point in his life and regardless of what the outcome may be there is no way to travel both paths. The traveler then sees “Both that the morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden back.” He realizes that he cannot go back and change the path that he had chosen to take. Once his decision was made his life was changed and he had to move on from there. He then says to himself “Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” He still wants to hold on to the belief that there is still a way to somehow travel both roads, but in his heart he knows that is not possible. The last stanza opens with “I shall be telling this with a sigh” which makes you wonder if he regrets the decision he made long ago as he in now “Ages and ages hence.” He goes on to tell the reader “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” He does not seem to regret the decision he made all those years ago because without that decision he would not be where he is today and that made all the difference in his life. This poem is somewhat ironic and from the beginning it seems that remorse is inevitable but in the end he is not remorseful at all. As he makes his choice, even though it is a difficult one, he knows at some point later in life he will think about this decision. He will wonder what he missed out on by taking one path over the other, but in the end he realizes there is no right or wrong path there are only paths. And each path you chose and each path you take marks points in your life for you to reflect on. Life is full of choices and different paths to take. Everyone comes to many different crossroads in their lives and once you have made a choice you cannot go back and change it. You have to live with the decisions you make in your life and try not to look back and regret them but learn from them and realize they make you the person you are.