The Road Not Taken

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Numerous surgeons encircled her, trying to remove a blood clot. Mere moments ago, she had suffered a stroke. And as the heart monitor beeped at regular intervals, the woman’s family bid their time pacing back and forth, their minds racing a mile a minute. Not long after, one of the surgeons came out and announced, “My condolences to you and your family, Mr Holland, but your wife couldn’t make it.”

~ Time of death 8:47 pm

Amanda Holland, who had received an award for being a high achiever a few hours ago, had gone numb. Her mind and body froze as a chill ran down her spine. Painting heavily for air, a rising tide of disbelief engulfed her from head to toe. Her lips quivered as tears slowly seeped down her cheeks. “Why did I not listen to her? Why did I not listen to my own mother? Maybe if we talked it out that day, she wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

A few days ago, Amanda received a call from her mother, who wanted to resolve their ongoing argument. Amanda had put this off, her mind occupied with her upcoming exams.

This action, this one decision, had completely subjugated her mind.

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We all make choices every hour of the day. The Road Not Taken, a sagacious poem written by Robert Frost, elucidates this matter in the most divine manner possible.

STANZA 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

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

In this poem, Frost arrives at a critical juncture and encounters the dilemma of standing at a diversion. A dilemma every person faces numerous times in their life. As per Frost, both roads can yield anonymous outcomes.

Line two manifests the theme of regret as he has to make a decision that is evidently a tough row to hoe for him. Although he tries to foresee the possible consequences of going down each road, his efforts are in vain. Inevitably, everyone encounters this. We all reach a point when we must make a decision based on the opportunities presented to us. We like to take our time to make these decisions, so we can justify our choices when the regret of missing out on the other roads starts to haunt us. Often, we get disheartened by the fact that we have to resign to one of the choices and tolerate the dubious consequences of the other.

Stanza 2 & 3

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.

The diction in this stanza portrays the character’s uncertainty as he tries to justify to himself that his decision is the right one for him. And much like anyone else, he tries to weigh the outcomes of both roads realistically. The motive to bear in mind in these lines is the character claiming the road he chose was better because it “wanted wear”, underlining human nature. We will always prefer the path of interest, even if both have equal potential to take us where we’re headed. No matter where we arrive or how satisfying our choices end up being, the “what ifs” and the “could have been’s” of the other paths will never leave us alone.

Frost confesses the unlikelihood of him coming back to choose the other path. He knows that as he progresses, he will continue to find more roads taking him further and further away. Many defining decisions in life shape our future, and having to choose between two distinct outcomes may come with disturbing regret. As the lines in this stanza highlight, no matter what we finally select, we will regret not being able to try the possibility that was left uncharted.

STANZA 4

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.

In this stanza, Frost anticipates the regret he will feel. So he decides to be dishonest when he retells the story of his decision. Showcasing his remorse, by stating that an equal opportunity could have landed him elsewhere, would invalidate his decision.

~Life is about the paths you do choose to walk through, not about “the road not taken.”~