There’s much to say about Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken. In what seems like a simplistic array of symbolisms, the metaphor of the poem takes us much deeper. It instantly creates an intimate bond to the familiar theme: Decisions. It was said that Frost referred the speaker of the poem to be his friend and colleague Edward Thomas. He would describe Thomas, as “a person, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn’t go the other.” (cite) With that knowledge, it gives validity to the poems multiple layers of decision-making, regret and curiosity.
The speaker begins with the vivid description in the first stanza of where he is and the significance of his dilemma. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (1), is where the poet drops us right in the thick of it. The two roads are a metaphor to the important and crucial choices we must decide in our lives. Frost vividly and simply painted a picture with only his first line. He gave us a time, place, color, and a dilemma. The yellow wood is a description of the season, giving a visual of a forest with yellow leaves which concludes that its autumn. That indication also serves as a time limit to the decision, implying that the speaker is running out of time. The speaker must make their decision before winter comes, which is a cold and dead season of progressiveness. The yellow also serves as a cautionary color, giving warning to the speaker that the decision must be made with careful and astute consideration.
There is also a sense of guilt and regret that is pre-mediated before the speaker can make the decision. It is apparent in the second and third line where he states: “And sorry I could not travel both/And be one traveler, long I stood.” (2,3) The poet foreshadows the regret one feels for not exploring the option not chosen. He begins the speaker’s emotions with the curiosity that will never be