The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost)

I once had to memorize and then recite The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost for the stage. Ha! And doesn't that sound dramatic. And yes, if I were to be (un)fair, I would say that the most common reading of this poem is also pretty dramatic.

The pop reading is to say that the less-trodden path is the better one. That to be the odd kid out is the best way to go because you see more and see differently than most.

However, that is not at all what this poem is saying. I find that this line is forgotten in many people's analysis: "the passing there/Had worn them really about the same". The two paths are the same. They both take you far from your starting point and you know what they say about roads, they "go ever on and on". You'll be a different person whether you take one path or another and who can say what difference would have been made if you had selected the un-taken one.

Favorite line: "And sorry I could not travel both/And be one traveler, long I stood"