Art of Manliness

The Road Not Taken

"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, 'The Road Not Taken

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Comment by Jonathan Gerber on August 10, 2012 at 9:26am: Personally, I think a little bit of both emotions are at play here. He seems to be somewhat adventurous and an ardent individualist, being that he takes the path that is "grassy and wanted wear." However, he does foresee "telling this with a sigh." While this sigh seems to me to be more wistful than regretful, he does mention in the beginning that he was "sorry I could not travel both." Frost also state that he knows that by taking the path he's taken he doubts he "should ever come back" to the point at which he started. So yes, in short, I see a bit of both satisfaction and perhaps more of a curiosity in what could have been, not necessarily regretfully though.