The Road Not Taken

  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;

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 marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

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 Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem that is often to simply interpreted by readers. The poem speaks of
a common scenario in life. A traveler has come to a crossroads and is forced to make a choice on which "road", or
path of life, he wants to choose. Both paths are inspected equally, and the traveler makes a choice and continues
down the road. The common interpretation is that the author is happy with his choice. He decides to choose the
road less traveled, and for that reason he is able to say "with a sigh" in his old age that he has chose the correct
road, and that it has changed his life for the better. The decision he has made has paid off, he is not just a regular
joe, he has lived an adventure by choosing the less traveled road. Upon closer reading, it appears the author
doesn't know what the best road is, and is merely trying to convince others that the road he chose is best.

This first stanza is generally interpreted as a person coming to an important event in their life, some life changing
moment that requires deep thought. From the line "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" it springs to mind an
event of some magnitude. However, the author does not point out that this event is of any great significance.
Everyday we are faced with a simple diverging of roads in our lives and we make a choice, whether it is which road
to take to work or what to wear. Most of us make the best choice we can and move on. In this poem, the traveler
is seemingly unable to make these simple choices and becomes stuck looking at every decision with fear: "And
sorry I could not travel both/And be one traveler, long I stood". Things that most people would decide with ease he
obsesses over. Unable to make a decision, he stands frozen at the split in the road.

The second stanza reinforces the ideas brought forth in the first stanza. The traveler decides to take one of the
roads "because it was grassy and wanted wear". The common interpretation is that this means he chose the road
less traveled. After careful inspection into his life changing event, he has come to the conclusion that he wants his
life to be different, and so has chosen the road not many have traveled down. If this were the only line in the
stanza, it would be easily interpreted this way. The problem with this interpretation are the very next lines: "Those
as for that the passing there/Had worn them really about the same". The traveler realizes that upon a second look,
the two paths were really not all that different. He was just tricking himself into believing they were different, but
apart from minor differences, they were about the same. The reason he is having trouble making the decision is
not because it is life changing, it is that he just cannot seem to believe in his choices.

In the third stanza we see that he continues to have doubt in his decision and says "Oh! I kept the first for another
day". The irony Frost intended for the reader to see was that he has no way to go back. He has already taken on
the road, and "...knowing how way leads on to way,/[he] doubted if [he] should ever come back". He knows that
the first path will lead to another path, that will lead to yet another path, and that he has no way to find his way
back to that first split in the road. Still, he can't help but think 'what if?'. Not only was he frozen at the beginning of
the road, now he is on the road of his choice and he is still preoccupied with "the road not taken". Once again, in
the first line of the third stanza, he has admitted again that "... both that morning equally lay", but the situation
still doesn't seem quite in his realm of understanding.

The common interpretation of the fourth stanza is that the man in the story is looking into the future and looking
back on how happy he is that he took the road less traveled. The first clue to the true meaning of the stanza is the
"sigh". Some view this as a sigh of relief, or a sigh of happiness. Frost wants the reader to know that the upcoming
lines, the bit about the road less traveled, will be nothing more then an inflated story used by himself as an old
man. Just as many others do, he will look back and tell others that he took the road less traveled, and his life is
that much better for it. But this will be nothing more then a bogus story, because both roads were almost the
same.
Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. He was the brother-in-law of Helen of Troy. Agamemnon was
married to Clytemnestra, the sister of Menelaus' wife, Helen of Troy.

Ajax was one of the suitors of Helen and so was one of the members of the Greek force against Troy in the Trojan War. He was
almost as skilled a fighter as Achilles. Ajax killed himself.

Andromache was the loving wife of the Trojan prince Hector and mother of their son, Astyanax. Hector and Astyanax were
killed, Troy destroyed, and (at the end of the Trojan War) Andromache was taken as a war bride, by Neoptolemus, son of
Achilles, to whom she bore Amphialus, Molossus, Pielus, and Pergamus.

Cassandra, a princess of Troy, was awarded as a war bride to Agamemnon at the end of the Trojan War. Cassandra prophesied
their murder, but as was true with all her prophecies because of a curse from Apollo, Cassandra was not believed.

Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon. She ruled in his stead while Agamemnon went off to fight the Trojan War. When he
returned, after having murdered their daughter Iphigenia, she killed him. Their son, Orestes, in turn, killed her. Not all version of
the story has Clytemnestra slaying her husband. Sometimes it is her lover.

Hector was a Trojan prince and the leading hero of the Trojans in the Trojan War.

Hecuba or Hecabe was the wife of Priam, King of Troy. Hecuba was the mother of Paris, Hector, Cassandra, and many others.
She was given to Odysseus after the war.

Helen of Troy: was the daughter of Leda and Zeus, sister of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri), and wife of
Menelaus. Helen's beauty was so overwhelming that Theseus and Paris abducted her and the Trojan War was fought to bring her
back home.

Characters in the Iliad:

In addition to the list of major characters in the Trojan War above and below, for each book of the Trojan War story The Iliad, I
have included a page describing its main characters.
Achilles was the leading hero of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Homer focuses on Achilles and the wrath of Achilles in the Iliad.

Iphigenia was a daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to Artemis at Aulis in order to
obtain favorable wind for the sails of the ships waiting to sail to Troy.
Menelaus was the king of Sparta. Helen, the wife of Menelaus was stolen by a prince of Troy while a guest in the palace of
Menelaus.

Odysseus

crafty Odysseus and his ten-year return to Ithaca from the war at Troy.

Patroclus
Patroclus was a dear friend of Achilles who put on the armor of Achilles and led Achilles' Myrmidons into battle, while Achilles
was sulking on the sidelines. Patroclus was killed by Hector.
Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus, kept suitors at bay for twenty years while her husband fought at Troy and suffered
Poseidon's wrath on his return home. During this time, she raised their son Telemachus to adulthood.
Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War. Hecuba was the wife of Priam. Their daughters were Creusa, Laodice,
Polyxena, and Cassandra. Their sons were Hector, Paris (Alexander), Deiphobus, Helenus, Pammon, Polites, Antiphus,
Hipponous, Polydorus, and Troilus.
Sarpedon was a leader of Lycia and an ally of the Trojans in the Trojan War. Sarpedon was a son of Zeus. Patroclus killed
Sarpedon.