The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

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 on his own poetry:“One stanza of ‘The Road Not Taken’ was written while I was sitting on a sofa in the middle of England: Was found three or four years later, and I couldn’t bear not to finish it. I wasn’t thinking about myself there, but about a friend who had gone off to war, a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn’t go the other. He was hard on himself that way.”

Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1874. His mother, Isabelle Moodie Frost, was of Scottish descent; his father, William Prescott Frost, Jr., was a descendant of colonist Nicholas Frost from Tiverton, Devon, England who had sailed to New Hampshire in 1634 on the Wolfrana.

Frost’s father was a good teacher, and later an editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin (which was eventually merged into the San Francisco Examiner), and an unsuccessful candidate for the city tax collector. The road not taken for young Robert might have been as a Californian editor rather than a New England poet, but William Frost Jr. died May 5, 1885, debts were settled, and the family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts where William Frost, Sr., was an overseer at a New England mill. Frost graduated from Lawrence High School in 1892.

Despite his later association with rural life, Frost lived in the city, and published his first poem in the Lawrence high school magazine. He attended Dartmouth College, long enough to be accepted into the Theta Delat Chi fraternity. Frost returned home to teach and to work at various jobs including delivering newspapers and factory labor. He did not enjoy these jobs at all, feeling his true calling as a poet.

Robert Frost’s biography was brought to you by Wikipedia.

“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

[mp3j track=”GeorgeWinstonColorsDance.mp3″]

Link back to the Poetry Wednesday tour on Laurita’s page

deletereply starfishred wrote on Oct 12, ’09, edited on Oct 12, ’09 always loved this poem thanks laurita

deletereply rosiefielding2 wrote on Oct 12, ’09 Robert Frost , a great man of words, this poem i like and your pic choice goes in hand with it .Rosiex

deletereply gileson wrote on Oct 12, ’09 I agree witn Starfish … this has always been one of my favorites. Growing up in South Dakota autumn was a great time … lots of leaves, lots of raking, lots of bonfires. Football games wrapped in blankets. I couldn’t wait for the weather man to issue a “Cuddle alert.” I wonder how many of us came to the diverging paths and simply flipped a coin but then wondered what would life be like had we chosen the other path?

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Oct 12, ’09 Sometimes we have to take a chance and choose a different direction that might be better for us.

deletereply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 12, ’09, edited on Oct 12, ’09 one of my all time favs i once wrote a “rebuttal” poem were i “take the road less traveled” and get bitten, beaten and robbed it ended with “thanks allot frost!” 🙂

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Oct 12, ’09 nemo4sun said one of my all time favs i once wrote a “rebuttal” poem were i “take the road less traveled” and get bitten, beaten and robbed it ended with “thanks allot frost!” LOL! This one seems to be everyone’s favorite poem by Frost.

deletereply jadedruid wrote on Oct 13, ’09 I have always loved Frost’s work. He paints a picture with his words and your choice of pictures match his yellow woods.

deletereply fransformation wrote on Oct 14, ’09 Great piece of poetic work … I’ve always loved this poem, it’s a very popular one.

deletereply sanssouciblogs wrote on Oct 14, ’09 This is gorgeous– will try to retrun. I am sending over my friend Neil.

deletereply caffeinatedjo wrote on Oct 14, ’09 I have always loved this particular poem and the poet’s choice to take the road “less traveled by”. Those kinds of roads make for an interesting journey.

deletereply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 14, ’09 until you hit the “bridge out” sign and have to go all the way back 🙂

deletereply nomadtraveller wrote on Oct 14, ’09 I’ve posted a poem today. Well, lyrics really. http://nomadtraveller.multiply.com/journal/item/952/POETRY_WEDNESDAY

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Oct 14, ’09 I posted on Frost too: http://pestep55.multiply.com/journal/item/588/

deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 22, ’09 this is quite sad…………..but also familiar, sometimes which ever path we take we think its the wrong one………….lovely presentation thanks laurita