Question

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. What is a theme of “The Road Not Taken”? How does the writer develop the theme? Write at least two paragraphs in which you trace the development of the theme of the poem and analyze how specific details shape the theme. Use evidence from the text to support your response. Your response should be two or three complete paragraphs.

Answer 1

The theme of "The Road Not Taken" deals with choice. The speaker is standing in a wood trying to figure out which road to take. He eventually takes the one "less travelled by," and speaks highly of his decision: "that has made all the difference." As the poem progresses we find that there is no right or wrong choice in the speaker's mind. the paths are "as just as fair" as one another. Also, both "equally" are leaf covered. So it is not that he chose the right road, but that he "took" the road. Either road would've done just fine.

Answer 2

What is a theme of “The Road Not Taken”?

• The theme deals about making the right decision, about what path to follow, whether the path that walks everybody or the path in which one has a road to make. It could also be taken as if to follow the same path would bring routine and monotony because one knows how and where that path would end. Following the same idea, to take a different path, the path less taken, would bring diversity to one’s life and therefore affect positively the rest of your life. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way”, yet knowing how following the path is going to end, yet knowing following that path would take that person to the same actions and therefore to the same end.  

How does the writer develop the theme?  

• He develops the theme by admitting that the first path is going to take him or her to the same end and doubting if to take it. “I doubted if I should ever come back” he doubts if he or she should ever take the same path again, he doubts what he or she has learned so far from his life or other’s lives, that person denies those experiences. Those experiences that would “cut and paste” his or her idea of life.