The Road was Less Traveled for a Reason
What Really Made the Difference?
Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken” has become a rallying cry for nonconformists looking to break away from the mainstream.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
Many interpret this to mean that if you walk down paths that not as many people have traveled, you will have a wonderful experience.
Myself, I don’t think that is what Frost was trying to say.
First, I have been down the less traveled path countless times. Yes, I have had some wonderful, exciting experiences on the path less traveled.
I have also often found myself in the middle of nowhere with nothing interesting around me. Many times, I have had to backtrack to the road most traveled.
When I was younger and traveling in Europe, I would be on a busy train just arriving to a new, unfamiliar city. As people got off the train, it always seemed that 90% of the people would go in one direction.
Being young and adventurous, I sometimes followed the minority of travelers and turned the opposite way of the flow of the crowd. Almost without exception, I found myself in some isolated neighborhood or industrial warehouse district with nothing to do but turn around and head back to the train station.
The interesting part of town, the places to stay and eat, the things to see, were all in the direction that most people were headed. So, I learned to follow the crowd and though I am sure this strategy did rob me of a few interesting experiences, it most certainly resulted in less times of having to double back or finding myself absolutely lost.
So, what do I think Frost meant?
I don’t think he was necessarily advocating going down the road less traveled. That is just the one he tried and that made all the difference.
We come to forks in the road all the time in our lives. We make decisions. The decisions we make determine what happens next and therefore change our life. They make all the difference.
It didn’t matter which path the author chose. It was the act of choosing that made the difference. He could have gone down the most traveled path and that, too, would have made all the difference.
The title of the poem is, after all, The Road Not Taken, not The Road Less Traveled. Even though he is quite content with his choice, it is almost as if he is contemplating what it would have been like had he traveled the other path.
For myself, if I am looking for adventure, I might try the path less traveled. But if I am looking for a cheeseburger and a place to sleep, give me the well-worn path to the city’s center.
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