Poet's Corner

"The Road Not Taken"

Robert Frost

Poem explanation

1	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 

5	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 

10	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,

15	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,

20	And that has made all the difference.

Source: Exploring Poetry, Gale, 1997.