The road splitting in the woods is a metaphor for a choice. Line 1: This line sets the scene for the literal and metaphorical fork in the road that the speaker faces.And we'll always wonder about the roads that we didn't try. Wrong turn or not, the roads we take can end up making significant changes in our lives. As the speaker of this poem discusses, for every road we take, there's a road we don't take. This poem is about actual and figurative roads: the roads we walk and drive on, and the roads we take through life. Check out our "How to Read a Poem" section for a glossary of terms. Before you travel any further, please know that there may be some thorny academic terminology ahead. The “motivational” statement this poem is making – is “congratulations – if you live long enough – you’ll get the chance to brag about the person you never really were.” And frankly, that’s a lot closer to Robert Frost in real life.Welcome to the land of symbols, imagery, and wordplay. We always tell the previous generation how much harder life was when we were younger. Robert Frost writes this – because for generations – we have done this. BUT years and years from now – I will tell everyone I made the right choices – that i could see the difference and took the hard way. The narrator even specifically states -that both paths looked the same. AND – We can’t go back in time again – and there are no do-overs in life (way leads on to way) – and in the end, the only thing we can do – is sigh – and ultimately – LIE – and tell everyone that we took the harder path in life – and that made the difference in his life (even though at the time he had no idea if it was harder or not – we don’t know which path he chose because it’s irrelevant). We can’t really see ahead – and what we can see looks exactly the same. There are two paths – that are exactly the same and neither actually have been walked on. it’s robert frost reminding us that the privilege of old age is lying (exaggerating) to your children and your children’s children, that you made the “tough choices in life”…you walked up hill to school both directions in freezing weather….and somehow, we were always kinder, never out past curfew, obeyed our parents, held the door for strangers and always ate our food that mamma prepared….even if we didn’t do any of those things with regularity. Yeah….that’s not what this poem is about. Don’t be a bystander or a passive spectator to your own life, choose wisely and create your own reality. To conclude I will simply say don’t regret the choices you make coz life is toooooooooooo long and you’ll get to make another one tomorrow, with all the experience you have acquired hopefully you’ll make a better one tomorrow. After making the choices, prepare yourself to face the consequences be it good or bad……they may take you to a place of promise or to a land of problems but you’ll be pleased that YOU have written YOUR life’s story. So what difference are we going to choose today? Which path are we going to take we may not always choose the right path……but, at least it will be our own choice. We think that the big choices like life’s decisions, are the most important however, fact is that it’s the small things we do on a daily basis that make all the difference over time. I often hear people nab about ….“ I wish I had become that.” Or “I could have done this.” But, they didn’t do it….never made the choice. You have the choice between being a lost explorer or an accidental tourist of life it is all a matter of perspective. Since life offers no guarantee you might as well take the risk and decide. Every choice will not lead you to happiness. No one knows where a road will lead to until we take it. We often stand on these crossroads not able to decide, which road we will take? Do we have an assurance that we would choose the right one? The answer is there is no assurance. There are roads to contentment and there are roads to melancholy, roads leading to victory and triumph, and roads towards defeat and discontent and just like any other road life also has its corners, detours, and crossroads. In life….there are roads that direct you to recognition and affluence or seclusion and scarcity. This poem brings out three big questions in life what might have occurred, what could have been, and how things would have happened if we would have chosen otherwise. In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” the poet is faced with two roads, two decisions, and two potential alternatives, here “road” symbolizes a path in life, and a choice between the two roads symbolize life decisions…….what we call as CHOICES.
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