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The Background Behind “The Road Not Taken” Poem. “The Road Not Taken” has become well known for its perceived encouragement to take the “ [road] less traveled by.”. In other words, many people interpret this poem as a call to blaze new trails and break away from the status quo.
Jul 13, 2021 · By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Two roads diverged in a wood’; ‘I took the one less traveled by’. These two lines have become famous since they were written, and they are widely quoted. But their meaning is also widely misunderstood. What did Robert Frost mean when he wrote, ‘Two roads diverged in a wood,…
Aug 18, 2016 · Because the poem isn’t “The Road Less Traveled.”. It’s “The Road Not Taken.”. And the road not taken, of course, is the road one didn’t take—which means that the title passes over the “less traveled” road the speaker claims to have followed in order to foreground the road he never tried.
To take "the [road] less traveled by" is a metaphor for deciding to follow one's own path rather than hopping on the bandwagon and doing what everyone else...
A majority of the time, this poem is quoted and used with an interpretation that is not exactly “correct”. The popular belief is that Frost meant for this poem to be about hope, success, and defying the odds by choosing a path well, “less traveled by.”.
The phrase “the road less traveled” means the choices we make in life are unconventional and uncertain. It refers to a choice that leads a person to choose an indifferent approach or a path in life to start a new trend.
Again, however, Frost refuses to allow the title to have a single meaning: “The Road Not Taken” also evokes “the road less traveled,” the road most people did not take.
