The Meaning of The Poem ‘The Road not Taken’ and How

they relate to daily lives

Leandro Limjadi

2101727884

LB61
 Abstract

Interpreting a literary work, such as poem, is a common thing to do. Even until now,
people continue to try and find meanings behind a poem. Until recently, one of the most
noticable poem that is really hard to be understood is a work by Robert Frost, The Road Not
Taken. Because of this, the aim of the research revolves around understanding of the poem,
which is, the meaning of the poem, the metaphors in it and the meaning, and finally the
writer’s intended meaning. The methodology of this research contains compiling data from
the poem, mainly the metaphors themseleves. Meanwhile, the analysis is done in order of
comprehending and interpreting the poem by its actual meaning, and then defining each
metaphor used, and finally interpreting the intended meaning of the poem itself. The
conclusion regarding this poem is concluded from the analysis which contains messages to
never be doubtful of making decisions and never regret it. This research ultimate goal is to
find the meaning based on what Robert Frost thought when he wrote the poem. The other is
for people to appreciate more of his works and hopefully other poet’s works as well. If people
could comprehend and appreciate literary works the way they are supposed to be, it would
open a possibility of giving birth to a new Robert Frost.

Keywords: Poem, Metaphors, Robert Frost.

 Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background

Poem is something that many people avoid reading because of how many figurative
language and hidden meaning behind them. The sole idea of reading one of them is usually
enough for someone to disregard it. Not because they are unable to do it, but rather, they are
avoiding reading poem because of the level of difficulty that they must have in order to
understand them. Naturally, human want to comprehend everything that they do, meanwhile,
comprehending a poem by only reading it several times is impossible let alone by flash
reading it. Thus, what is needed for someone to make them more interested in reading poem?

One thing that could possibly raise the interest of one to read a poem or even poems is
that helping them to comprehend what they are reading. Sure, dictionary has already been
doing that by giving word definition of the words, but this will only help to solve half of the
problem. Some poets use extremely difficult figurative language and hide meaningful
messages behind them. So, the thing that can be done is doing an analysis to help people
understanding the meaning behind poems. But not all poems have been ‘translated’, and
every person has different ways to understand, thus bringing different point of view into
comprehending the poems. The difference is something that must be appreciated, because
they are like someone’s opinion, and we can not disregard them just because they are
different than ours.

In order to truly comprehend some poems, we need to investigate the poet’s minds, but
this seems impossible because of obvious reasons. Other way that makes sense is to interpret
it based on our understanding of the poem. For that reason, the writer hopes that this thesis
can help the reader to better understand the meaning behind the poem, especially ‘The Road
Not Taken’. In addition to that, he also hopes that this paper will help in adding the readers’
interest in reading and comprehending more literary works, not just poem, in the future.

The reason why the writer chooses this topic is because many people still cannot
comprehend poem and still lacking in their understanding of poem. That is truly a shame,
because poem is such a thing that if understood could open a whole new point of view. Also,
understanding a poem means that they have an appreciation towards literary works, not only
limited to poem, but also other literary works such as short story and drama. Thus,
understanding a poem is undeniably important in our lives, because it is applicable
throughout them.

1.2 Research Question

The main questions of this research are:

1. What are the meanings behind the metaphors found in ‘The Road Not Taken’?
2. What is the writer’s intention connected to these metaphors?
3. What is the theme based on these metaphors?
4. How do the metaphors relate to our lives?
(The Real life will be based on my personal opinion, but in the real thesis will be
based on the generation X)

1.3 Scope and Limitation

The scope of this research is Robert Frost’s poem, The Road not Taken. This poem
describes a journey of a person in their life, which contains many roadblocks and
adversities. The main aspects that want to be achieved are the meaning behind the poem
and the metaphors themselves and the intended meaning of the writer himself.

1.4 Goals and Function

The goals of this research are:

1. To determine the meaning behind the metaphors used by Robert Frost to write the
poem
2. To expose the real meaning of the poem so other people could understand

The Functions of this research are:

1. To understand the meaning of the poem and use it as basis in daily lives
2. To provide a new way for people to appreciate classic poems

Chapter 2
Literary Review

The definition of metaphor expression differs one from another. Typically, situations,
events, and ideas are compared to physical objects, substances and containers, which can then
be identified as discrete entities that we may refer to, categorize and quantify (Lakoff &
Johnson 1980: 25) in ‘Metaphor in conversation’ by Anna Albertha Kaal. Metaphor could be
used and improved by many, without exception, yet rarely used because of its level of
complexity. Poets often use metaphor because of they need to put meaningful word in just a
little space they have, thus metaphor helps them do that. “Metaphor consists in giving the
thing a name that belongs to something else; the transference being either from genus to
species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or on grounds of analogy”(Lan,
2005) in ‘A study of Metaphor and its application in Language Learning and Teaching’.
There are ways to analyze and identify metaphor, quoted from ‘Introducing Metaphor’ by
Knowles and Moon “To analyse and discuss metaphors in any depth, we need to identify and
consider three things: the metaphor (a word, phrase, or longer stretch of language); its
meaning (what it refers to metaphorically); and the similarity or connection between the
two”. In this research, the way to identify will be around those of Moon and Knowles’, thus
providing comprehension of the metaphors universally.

The theory of metaphor itself has been brought up by Lakoff and Johnson before.
“Metaphor is for most people device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish--a
matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. Moreover, metaphor is typically
viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action.
For this reason, most people think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We
have found,on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language
but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think
and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.”(Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). That statement
represents the idea that metaphor has been in our daily lives since long time ago. We can
safely say that metaphors are inseparatable from our very own existence.

Referencing from Lakoff (2003) in research about the theory of metaphor, which purpose
was to understand metaphor, the method was using the contemporary method of analysis to
analyze the metaphor itself. Meanwhile, the conclusion is that contemporary metaphor is a
method which is better and more interesting way of determining metaphors that exist in
everyday lives, it also brings challanges in defining them. In another research in teaching
field, understanding metaphor is also important. Zhang and Hu (2009) mentioned in their
research titled “A Study of Metaphor and its Application in Language Learning and
Teaching” gives a clear explanation using their purpose of the research which emphasizes the
vital points of understanding metaphor. Their method is using the scheme of how metaphor
works and finally concludes into various and valuable uses of them, because, according to
them, metaphor itself has become a part of the world that we are living in, and has an
immense and immeasurable impact, thus learning it is one way to understand.

Chapter 3
Methodology

The main source of this research is the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ written by Robert
Frost. This poem was officially released back in 1961 in the book ‘Mountain Interval’, before
then, the original poem had been sent to Frost’s friend, Edward Thomas. This poem was
initially a reply to a joke that Edward first made. This poem was to make fun of Edward,
because he often regretted not taking a certain decision after he knew the result. Thus, this
poem was originally meant to be only a joke, not an actual poem that had meaningful, but,
because of Frost’s style of writing, the poem itself has many meanings, depends on how
people interpret it. Nevertheless what the original purpose of the poem was, many people still
consider it being a significant poem that holds such an importance to their lives. Many even
inspired by this poem, including Thomas himself.
3.1 Data

The main data that are metaphores in the poem, ‘The Road Not Taken’, itself.

3.2 Data Compliation

Reading and comprehending

the poem

Understanding the metaphors

Finding the important

metaphors

List down the metaphor to be

researched on
3.3 Data Analysis

Translate the poem using its

literal meaning

Finding the meaning of the

metaphors

Interpret the poem using

meaning of the metaphors
Finding the intended meaning
of the poem

Finding the theme of the

poem

Chapter 4
Analysis
 4.1 The meaning of each Stanza

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;

This first stanza tells about the setting of the poem. The place in where the poem starts
is the yellow wood, in which most of the poem take place. After that, it seems like the ‘I’ in
the poem is a traveler who is starting his journey in a woods and finds himself on a fork road.
After that, he stands there looking at both roads. He then looks as far as he could, first he
looks one road, to where the road ends, and it is 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

Had worn them really about the same,

The second stanza is the continuation of the first one. The traveler takes a look at
another road, which he claims to be a better one. The reason behind this is that it is more
grassy and seems to be less traveled that the other one. But immediately after that, he retracts
his words about the road being less traveled by, and says that it has also been worn or same
as the other road.

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 third stanza starts with the more detailed setting of the poem. The setting of the
time is exposed as morning in the poem. And the morning sun exposes that both of the path
are equal. In addition to that, the traveler says that the leaves have not been trodden black,
which adds the description that the paths are both fresh. Then the traveler says that he keeps
the othe path for another day, only to retract that statement once again, and thinks about not
coming back at all.

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

 The setting of the last stanza seems to be different from the stanzas preceding it. It
seems like that the traveler is now telling a story about the journey in the woods earlier. Here,
the traveler is trying to remember when the first time he started the journey, by repeating the
same line as the first of the poem. Then, he claims that he travels the one that is less traveled
by and tells that the decision has made all the difference.

4.2 Metaphors and their meaning

1. Roads

First of all, the most noticable metaphor here is the word roads. The meaning of the word
‘road’ in general is that, something that is used to connect one place to another, and allows
people to cross from a place to another. But, road can also be interpreted as our lives, more
specifically, the journey in our lives. Journey are usually related to people walking, journey in
life is no different to that. People who undergo a journey must do that by following a ‘road’ in
their lives, otherwise, they will get lost. This is why, the interpretation of roads here, rather
than being only a place to be crossed by people, is also something that people need to follow
to reach a certain point in their lives. In the poem, it is mentioned there are two ‘roads’, these
two roads appear before the traveler. It could be interpreted that two important live choices
appear before his very eyes, and he must choose.

2. Yellow Wood

The ‘Yellow Wood’ marks the first visual imagery in the poem. The yellow wood here,
most likely refers to the wood being yellow because of a certain season, autumn. Autumn is
also referred as fall, this is literally, the season when trees shed their leaves, the leaves shed
by the trees are commonly coloured yellow, just like how the poem describes. Notable
condition that happens during autumn is that the temperature, which is considerably warm,
not too hot neither is it too cold, because it is a transition between summer and winter. One
thing can be taken out of this context is that the season is the perfect season to enjoy the
surrounding condition. Thus, leads to the interpretation that the traveler must make the hard
choice that is important to his live in his most comfortable condition, in which, most people
would most likely just enjoying their lives without a single care about their lives. The other
interpretation of the wood also supports this idea. Wood is usually considered as something
alive, something that does not stay the same forever, something that is everchanging. So it
could also be said that the yellow wood here is a certain time in life, when we enjoy being
ourselves and comfortable being in it.
 3. Traveler

Going into the next one, traveler. Traveler means someone who often does a traveling
activity, or in other words, someone who explores. The interpretation of traveler here, in the
poem, could also someone who embarks on a life journey. To find what he seeks, the traveler
must first explore the ‘yellow wood’, on the other words, going into a life jouirney to find
experience that is needed to become what he truly wants to be.

4. Undergrowth

Undergrowth means a place where it is surrounded by bushes and plants, it is generally

connected to the trees in woodland. Undergrowth is usually seen as a roadblock, which
prevents traveler to go further. But in the poem, rather than being a speedbump, the
undergrowth in the context of the poem refers more into a place that could neither be reached
nor be seen by the traveler. Technically, it could be reached, but at this point of the poem, the
traveler does not want to travel and reach until the undergrowth because it would make him
to continue journey down that path, and not checking the other path. In life, the undergrowth
represents points in it. These points, could not be looked through because of the lack of
knowledge to know what lies behind them. So, it could be said that the undergrowth is a
whole new experience that has not been experienced by the traveler, thus it is said that the
traveler has tried to see as far as he could into the undergrowth.

5. Grassy and Wanted wear

The fifth one, grassy and wanted wear. Grassy is a symbolism of a fertile environment.
This interpretation connects with wanted wear, they both translate to that the path is fresh and
has not been traveled by anyone before. The relation to life is that of a new start. When
someone travels, it is a new and fresh start for him, because, it is the start of his own journey.
Even though people have done something in the past that is similar or might be exactly the
same, it is still a fresh start nevertheless.

6. Morning

Morning here, is not that much different from the ‘fresh start’ that has been mentioned
before. But here, rather than emphasizing the initial point, it gives a heavier meaning to the
paths, so that the reader know that boths of the path are similar to each other. It is also worth
to be noted that morning here also gives a better depiction of surrounding at where the
traveler stands.
 7. Leaves and Step

The next one is the leaves. In the poem, it is said that the leaves have not been trodden
black, or in other words, they have not been stepped. Before interpreting this whole line, it is
important to know what is the meaning of the leaves here. The leaves here symbolize the
things that have been left by other people. It is not rare to see important people leave
something as their legacy to be remembered by many people. Robert Frost, for example, left
his creations that are still used until nowadays. That being said, the leaves here, in the context
of the line, is it has not been trodden black, it means that the traveler is sure that the path that
he is about to take is still a brand new one, has never been taken or traveled by anyone. The
step here represents people that follow the footsteps of other people. Essentially, following
their journey as well, thus, the line talks about how the traveler wants a fresh start and really
puts emphasize on how he wants to make a new fresh start rather than following someone
else’s.

8. Another day

Another day, represents a new beginning. Because everyday there is a new lesson, a new
thing that happens to us. But, in the context of the line and poem, it talks about how the
traveler wants to travel the other path on the other day or opportunity. This line, the
intonation of the traveler differs from the lines so far. It has some kind of melancholic
expression into it. From the intonation and how it is put together, it could safely be assumed
that the traveler intends to do his journey all over again, exploring the other path.

9. Sigh

Finally, the final metaphor is the ‘sigh’, mentioned in the first line of the last stanza. Sigh
could be interpreted in many ways, it could represent sadness, dissapoinment, or something
similar. The sigh here connects back to the first stanza, it is to describe dissapoinment,
because the traveler could not travel both paths. Moreover, when the traveler tells this story,
quite some time has passed. Thus, it could be concluded that even though long time has
passed, the traveler still thinks of his inability to travel both of the paths.

4.3 Interpretation

After finding the meaning of every metaphor there is in this poem, the interpretation shall
now be presented. Starting off the poem, it is depicted that a traveler is making his journey
through a yellow wood, which has been mentioned that the traveler could refer to the reader
of the poem, or any people out there in general, because this poem talks about life. The
traveler then finds himself into two difficult choice to be made. He regrets not being able to
take both, since he is only one person. The interpretation of this is that people could only
make one choice at a time, there are times when it is possible to make multiples, but most of
the time, it is limited to only one, so they have to choose. After that, he checks one path,
checking the path could be interpreted that he is trying to get as much information as he
could. In daily lives, when being placed in this kind of situation, people will also try to gather
as much information as they could before deciding something.

Second stanza starts off with him talking about the other path. Then he proceeds into
saying that the other path is the same as the one before, and even goes as far as to say that it
might be better than the last one. But at the end, he retracts this statemen and says that the
path is almost the same. The unsureness of the traveler could be felt in this second stanza. In
the practice, many people could not make up their mind when they are facing the important
moment. Because of how important it is, they keep thinking the same thing over and over
again, but no matter how much they think, they will still be back to square one, where they
start. This is what happens to the traveler in this second stanza, he thinks too much, and that
brings him to where he started.

Continuing to the third stanza, the traveler seems to have made up his mind of which path
to travel. The traveler even says that he wants to travel the other path. In real life, the choice
that matters always want to be kept by someone. Even though, finally the traveler realizes
that if he follows one path, then he would not be able to go back and follow the other path.
This is because that when someone already travels one path, they would have the doubt of
ever going back. The doubt is based on whether it is worth to go back and take the other
choice, because when making a decision and following it, one already knows what is in the
decision that he has made, but different case for the other one, thus it becomes a hestitation
later on.

Last stanza, the traveler talks about some point in the future, when he tells the story to
other people. When he tells the story, he would tell the story with a sigh, that is, the
dissapoinment of not being able to take both path. After that, the poem recalls to when the
traveler started his journey, back when he first found the two paths. Finally, he says that he
takes the less traveled path, yet in the stanzas before, he says that he is not sure which path is
less traveled by. The message behind this is that, if one keeps questioning which decision is
better, then he would be in an infinite loop, from which he could not escape. Thus, it is better
to make a decision even though he is not sure whether he is correct or wrong until he sees it
himself. The last line, tells that the decision making has made all the differences, up until that
point of his life, whether it is for better or worse.

4.4 Writer’s intended meaning

Through this poem, the writer intended to give insight into life, by giving picture of
someone that is unsure whether to do something or another. This poem also highlights
someone’s decision making process. Whether he wants to follow the path that many have
chosen, and follow their footsteps, or choosing one that only a few have chosen, being a
different than others. The dilemma of the traveler could be felt in this poem, the traveler is
confused of which path to be chosen, which decision should be made.

In the end, what really matters is not about the road being less traveled or have been
traveled by many. But what really matters is that the courage to make a decision, knowing
exactly what the consequences are. Human nature is that of regretting something that they do
not do or take, thus by providing such heavy dilemmas and making the traveler conquers it
and move on with his life rather than dwelling on the same spot thinking which one is better
than the other one, the writer provided reader with a great insight of how life is supposed to
always move, not just staying at one point, being stagnant.

4.5 Theme

After taking a look at all the things above, the final thing that is needed to be done is
to determine the theme of the poem. The theme of the poem is that a life journey in which
one has to make his own choices. The life choices that mentioned here are the choices that
will determine what will he become in the future. These choices could also be seen as
checkpoints that will bring someone to become what they aim in the future. Ultimately, these
choices are the things that has ‘made all the difference’ in life.

Chapter 5
Conclusion
 In the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost, there are many things that could
be related in our daily lives. There are several meanings in the metaphors that are essential to
comprehending the meaning of the poem. Most of the meaning of the metaphors are
connected and play important roles in the journey of the traveler. The metaphors represent a
person who goes through a phase in which he has to makes choices and he encounters things
such as his own unsureness, his hope, and ultimately leads him to making his own choice.
The intention of the writer is that for the reader to be wise and never be afraid to make
decisions in life. No matter how many factors there are to distract one’s journey, he should
always make choices in his life. The theme of the poem, which contained in chapter 4, is
similar to what the writer wanted to give through this poem, that is a journey that needs to be
undergone by someone, that is absolute in determining his life later on. Finally, going to the
last part that is the relation between the poem and the real life. The poem depicts life
nowadays, where people need to be decisive and sure when making choices that matter in
their lives, but the message of the poem is for them not to regret choosing what they have
already chosen, because it would lead to nothing but waste of time.

Chapter 6
 Bibliography

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Summary. Retrieved January 20, 2019, from https://www.shmoop.com/road-not-
taken/stanza-3-summary.html
- Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.),
Metaphor and Thought (pp. 202-251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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- The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2017, August 16). The Road Not Taken. In
Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-
Road-Not-Taken
- Holcombe, C.J. (n.d.). Metaphor : Theories. Retrieved from
http://www.textetc.com/theory/metaphor.html
- Zhang, F, & Hu, J. (2009). A Study of Metaphor and its Application in Language
Leanring and Teaching. Yantai: Ludong University Press
- Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press
- Kaal, A.A. (2012). Metaphor in Conversation. Oisterwijk: Uitgeverij BOXPress
- Knowles, M, & Moon, R. (2006). Introducing Metaphor. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.