The Road Not Taken 《未选择的路》
罗伯特•弗罗斯特（Robert Frost）生于1874年，卒于1963年，可能要算是20世纪美国最受欢迎和爱戴的一位诗人了。1912年，他弃农从文，从此成为了一名专业诗人。他曾在1961年时受邀在约翰•F•肯尼迪总统的就职典礼上朗诵他的诗歌——《The Gift Outright》。而本次我为大家推荐的《The Road Not Taken》则是他最著名的一首诗歌。
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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood 黄色的树林里分出两条路
And sorry I could not travel both 可惜我不能同时去涉足
And be one traveler, long I stood 我在那路口久久伫立
And looked down one as far as I could 我向着一条路极目望去
To where it bent in the undergrown 直到它消失在丛林深处
Then took the other, as just as fair 但我却选了另外一条路
And having perhaps the better claim 它荒草萋萋，十分幽寂
Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 显得更诱人、更美丽
Though as for that the passing there 虽然在这两条小路上
Had worn them really about the same 都很少留下旅人的足迹
And both that morning equally lay 虽然那天清晨落叶满地
In leaves no step had trodden black 两条路都未经脚印污染
Oh, I kept the first for another day! 呵，留下一条路等改日再见！
Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 但我知道路径延绵无尽头
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I doubted if I should even come back.恐怕我难以再回返
I shall be telling this with a sigh 也许多少年后在某个地方
Somewhere ages and ages hence: 我将轻声叹息把往事回顾
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--- 一片树林里分出两条路
I took the one less traveled by, 而我选了人迹更少的一条
And that has made all the difference 从此决定了我一生的道路
评论1：
\"The Road Not Taken\" is a poem by Robert Frost, published in 1916 in the collection Mountain Interval, it is the first poem in the volume and is printed in italics. The title is often mistakenly given as \"The Road Less Traveledraveled by\".
The poem has two recognized interpretations; one is a more literal interpretation, while the other is more ironic.
Readers often see the poem literally, as an expression of individualism. Critics typically view the poem as ironic.[1] – \"'The Road Not Taken,' perhaps the most famous example of Frost's own claims to conscious irony and 'the best example in all of American poetry of a wolf in sheep's clothing.'\"[2] – and Frost himself warned \"You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem – very tricky.\"[3] Frost intended the poem as a gentle jab at his great friend and fellow poet
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Edward Thomas with whom he used to take walks through the forest (Thomas always complained at the end that they should have taken a different path) and seemed amused at this certain interpretation of the poem as inspirational.
Literal interpretation
According to the literal (and more common) interpretation, the poem is inspirational, a paean to individualism and non-conformism.
The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his position. He has been out walking in the woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down each one as he can see. He would like to try out both, but doubts he could do that, so therefore he continues to look down the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which road to take.
Ironic interpretation
The ironic interpretation, widely held by critics,[1][5] is that the poem is instead about regret and personal myth-making, rationalizing our decisions.
In this interpretation, the final two lines:
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
are ironic : the choice made little or no difference at all, the speaker's protestations to the
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contrary. The speaker admits in the second and third stanzas that both paths may be equally worn and equally leaf-covered, and it is only in his future recollection that he will call one road \"less traveled by\".
The sigh, widely interpreted as a sigh of regret, might also be interpreted ironically: in a 1925 letter to Cristine Yates of Dickson, Tennessee, asking about the sigh, Frost replied: \"It was my rather private jest at the expense of those who might think I would yet live to be sorry for the way I had taken in life.\"
Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, \"The Road Not Taken\and the attitude with which he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light that he will see the poem in. In any case however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost's belief that it is the road that one chooses that makes him the man who he is. \"And sorry I could not travel both...\" It is always difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the opportunity cost, what will be missed out on. There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is even made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down every path. In an attempt to make a decision, the traveler \"looks down one as far as I could\". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to see as far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where it is going to lead. It is the way that he chooses here that sets him off on his journey and decides where he is going. \"Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim.\" What made it have the better claim is that \"it was grassland wanted wear.\" It was something that was obviously not for everyone because it seemed that the majority of people
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took the other path therefore he calls it \"the road less traveled by\". The fact that the traveler took this path over the more popular, secure one indicates the type of personality he has, one that does not want to necessarily follow the crowd but do more of what has never been done, what is new and different. \"And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black.\" The leaves had covered the ground and since the time they had fallen no one had yet to pass by on this road. Perhaps Frost does this because each time a person comes to the point where they have to make a choice, it is new to them, somewhere they have never been and they tend to feel as though no one else had ever been there either. \"I kept the first for another day!\" The desire to travel down both paths is expressed and is not unusual, but \"knowing how way leads on to way\and he \"doubted if I should ever come back.\" This is his common sense speaking and acknowledging that what he chooses now will affect every other choice he makes afterward. Once you have performed an act or spoken a word that crystallizes who you are, there is no turning back and it cannot be undone. Once again at the end of the poem the regret hangs over the traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. He realizes that at the end of his life, \"somewhere ages and ages hencehe roads he did not take. Yet he remains proud of his decision and he recognizes that it was this path that he chose that made him turn out the way and he did and live his life the way in which he lived. \"I took the road less traveled by and that had made all the difference.\" To this man, what was most important, what really made the difference, is that he did what he wanted, even if it meant taking the road less traveled. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be the same man he is now. There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and Robert Frost may have intended this. He may have been trying to achieve a universal understanding. In other words, there is no judgment, no specificity, no moral. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision in his life that had changed the direction of his life from what it may have otherwise been. It allows all readers from all different experiences to relate to the poem.
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评论2：
Robert Frost is one of the finest of rural New England’s 20th century pastoral poets. His poems are great combination of wisdom, harmony and serenity. They are simple at first sight, but demand readers for deep reading to grasp further meaning beyond surface.
The famous poem of Frost The Road Not Taken is my favorite. This poem consists of four stanzas of five lines. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB. the rhymes are strict and masculine, with notable exception of the last line. There are four stressed syllables each line, varying on iambic tetrameter base.
The Road Not Taken tells about life choice. Man’s life is metaphorically related to a journey filled with twists and turns. One has to consider a lot before making a wise choice. Though the diverged roads seem identical, they actually lead to different directions, which symbolize different fates.
A less than rigorous look at the poem may lead one to believe that Frost’s moral is embodied in those lines. The poem is taken as a call to independence, preaching originality and Emersonian self-reliance. The poem deconstructs its conclusion stanza by stanza.
At the beginning of this poem, the poet shows the inability of human beings to foresee the future, especially the results of choices. At the split in the road, the speaker looks far down both the two paths to see what each of the paths will bring. However, his sight is limited; his eyes can only see the path until it bends into “the undergrowth”. Man is free to choose, but doesn’t know beforehand the results of his choice.
Both roads diverge into a “yellow wood” and appear to be “about the same” in their
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purposes. The first path is a more common route. The other is less traveled, which “was grass and wanted wear”. The poet presents a conflict here—the decision between the common easy path and exceptional challenging path. The two different paths signify two different kinds of lives. Choosing the common easy path, people will feel at ease and live in safety, because the outcome is predictable. However, that kind of life may be less exciting and lack of novelty. While choosing the “less traveled” road represents the gamble of facing a more difficult path in lives. This forms contrast with familiar lives of most people. People hope to achiever a satisfactory and interesting life on this road. The wish is good, but reality is full of challenges and uncertainties. Nobody can be sure of the outcome. After vacillating between the two roads, the poet finally decides to take the road “less traveled by” and leads a different life from common people. This may indicate his choice to be a poet, other than other jobs. The poet makes up his mind to dedicate himself to poem writing, which is regarded as a less common career.
Once the decision is made, there will be no way to return to the original choice to experience the other route. So the poet utters “Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.” The made choice is irrevocable, so man must be careful and rational before making decisions. At the same time, he must be courageous enough to shoulder the result of his choice, whether it is good or not.
Frost presents man’s limitation to explore life’s different possibilities. The poet “sighs” at the end of the poem. For at the time of one’s choice, he must give up other choices and miss some other things. At the same time, he “sighs” with lamentation, pondering what he may have missed on the other path and that he doesn’t have opportunities to experience another kind of life.
The Road Not Taken is interpreted universally as a representation of two similar choices. At
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the beginning, man may face two identical forks, which symbolize the nexus of free choice and fate. They contrast increasingly with each other as they diverge in their separate directions. Man is free to choose, but it’s beyond his ability to foretell the consequences. Man can choose a common route which guarantees a safe and reliable life. He can also choose a less common one which is unknown, unique and stands out above other else’s. All in all, man must be responsible for his choice and has courage to shoulder the result. He can never go back to the past and experience other possibilities. It is impossible to predict the outcome of decisions, so it is essential for him to make wise decisions after considering, selecting and questioning which selection will provide him with fulfillment.
The Road Not Taken is full of philosophical overtones. This poem should be read as a warning. Man should consider a lot before making choices and reflect over the choices he has made to discover “all the differences”.
评论3：
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” has been one of the most analyzed, quoted, anthologized poems in American poetry. A wide-spread interpretation claims that the speaker in the poem is promoting individualism and non-conformity.
A Tricky Poem
Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had walked many times in the woods near London. Frost has said that while walking they would come to different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always fret wondering what they might have missed by not taking the other path.
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About the poem, Frost asserted, \"You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem - very tricky.\" And he is, of course, correct. The poem has been and continues to be used as an inspirational poem, one that to the undiscerning eye seems to be encouraging self-reliance, not following where others have led.
But a close reading of the poem proves otherwise. It does not moralize about choice; it simply says that choice is inevitable, but you never know what your choice will mean until you have lived it.
First Stanza – Describes Situation
The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his position. He has been out walking the woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down each one as he can see. He would like to try out both, but doubts he could to that, so therefore he continues to look down the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which road to take.
Second Stanza – Decides to Take Less-Traveled Road
The speaker had looked down the first one “to where it bent in the undergrowth,” and in the second stanza, he reports that he decided to take the other path, because it seemed to have less traffic than the first. But then he goes on to say that they actually were very similarly worn. The second one that he took seems less traveled, but as he thinks about it, he realizes that they were “really about the same.” Not exactly that same but only “about the same.”
Third Stanza – Continues Description of Roads
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The third stanza continues with the cogitation about the possible differences between the two roads. He had noticed that the leaves were both fresh fallen on them both and had not been walked on, but then again claims that maybe he would come back and also walk the first one sometime, but he doubted he would be able to, because in life one thing leads to another and time is short.
Also on Suite101
Frost's Snow and Woods
Robert Frost's \"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening\" seems simple, but its nuanced phrase, \"And miles to go before I sleep,\" offers much about which to speculate.Fourth Stanza – Two Tricky Words
The fourth stanza holds the key to the trickiness of the poem:
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.
Those who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take the word “difference”
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to be a positive difference. But there is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference signals a positive outcome. The speaker could not offer such information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.
The other word that leads readers astray is the word “sigh.” By taking “difference” to mean a positive difference, they think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief; however, a sigh can also mean regret. There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh, but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh. Which one is it?
If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker is glad he took the road he did; if it is the regret sigh, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret. But the plain fact is that the poem does not identify the nature of that sigh. The speaker of the poem does not even know the nature of that sigh, because that sigh and his evaluation of the difference his choice will make are still in the future. It is a truism that any choice an indiviual make is going to make “all the difference” in how our future turns out.
Careful Readers Won’t Be Tricked
So Frost was absolutely correct; his poem is tricky—very tricky. In this poem, it is important to be careful with the time frame. When the speaker says he will be reporting sometime in the future how his road choice turned out, he clearly states that he cannot assign meaning to “sigh” and “difference” yet, because he cannot know how his choice will affect his future, until after he has lived it.
评论4：
1．Introduction
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As is well known to people, Robert Frost is one of the most famous national poets of America. Though contemporary with modernists like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Robert Frost is often regarded as a traditional poet of nature. He rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporary. On the contrary, he chose “the old- fashioned way to be new and urged poets to use the idioms of spoken English and, when possible, to rely on commonplace and even rustic imagery. And he saw nature as a storehouse of analogy and symbol. However, unlike other poets of nature, he depicted nature as something in constant conflicts with human beings and bring a deep sense of uncertainty and even tragedy to them. Simple as they seem, his poems are often profound in meaning between the lines. Most of his poems are characterized with an unusual sense of tragedy and reflect weakness of human beings in the face of vast, impersonal force.
Additionally, the poem reflects Frost’s own personal tragedy and his miserable, sorrowful inner feelings exactly. When it comes to this, his personal life experience has to be taken into consideration. Famous and popular as he became, but he suffer a lot during all his life. He lost his father as a young boy, and he was bereaved of his beloved wife in his middle age. What is worse, all of his children ended up dying young or suffering from mental disease. For him, life seemed to keep playing tricks on him and made his life miserable. As a result, many poems composed by him, not only this one, are featured with an exotic sense of tragic beauty.
2. Analysis
In this poem, the speaker, a traveler in the wood faced with the choice of two roads. The roads bear two connotations: the material roads and the roads of life. Now, let me give some specific analysis.
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2.1 See over one road
In part one, the speaker faced with two roads in the autumnal wood and feel puzzled over which one to choose. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, He stood there for a long time and mused on one of them, which was taken by many people. Unfortunately, he was unable to find out which place the，road would take him to, for it is far beyond his ability to know where the road would lead. However, he must choose to take.
2.2. The other one
In part two, he stepped on the other road, “Then took the other, as just as fair”, It was grassy and not taken. His choice would affect every other subsequent choice, and there was no turning back. From his choice for the less trodden road, it could be concluded that he did not like to follow the steps of other people, he wanted his own life choired by himself.
2.3 Helpless
In part three, he decided to choose the less traveled one, but he was aware that he could never have a chance to return to the first road. “I doubted if I should never come back” showed he is helpless.
2.4 Chose the less traveled road
In part four, “I shall be telling this with a sign”, he articulated why he chose the less traveled road, for he expected his life to be unusual and different. But there was no way to foretell the consequences of his choice.
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All in all, for the speaker, the road of life was accident and mystical, and his very choice was crucial in determining the consequences of his life. The ordinary people follow other’s choice, while the exceptional ones choose their unique roads of life.
3. Conclusion
3.1 Everyone is a traveler
Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey. There is never a straight path but a sole direction in which to head. It is one's past, present and the attitude with which he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light.
In any case however, this poem clearly explained Frost's belief that it is the road that one chooses that makes him the man who he is. It is always difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the opportunity cost, what will be missed out on. It is impossible to travel down every path. The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to see as far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where it is going to lead.
It is the way that he chooses here that sets him off on his journey and decides where he is going. It was something that was obviously not for everyone because it seemed that the majority of people took the other path. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision in his life that had changed the direction of his life from what it may have otherwise been. It allows all readers from all different experiences to relate to the poem.
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3.2 Human beings are so weak
In a word, the poem The Road Not Taken is a very beautiful and excellent poem. It is set in a rural natural environment where always inspire the speaker to think of life. It is based on a metaphor in which the journey through life is compared to a journey on a road. And the speaker of the poem has to choose one path instead of another. Even though the two paths look equally attractive, the speaker knows that his choice at this moment may have a significant influence on his future. He does make a decision, hoping that he may be able to visit this place again, yet realizing that such an opportunity is impossible. He imagines himself in the future telling the story of his life, and claiming that his decision to take the road less traveled by, the road few other people have taken, has made all the difference.
This thesis intends to explore Frost’s own view of life. He told us that human beings are so weak when compared with nature and the destiny. Though human beings have made great progress in the past several centuries, there will forever exist something that is far beyond their control. For human, it is unable to do anything useful when he is in conflict with the impersonal force. And it’s also unable to control his own destiny; on the contrary, his fate and destiny are in the charge of something mysterious beyond him. In this sense, life is a tragedy to human. So it could be said that Frost conveyed his sense of tragedy common to human through this simple but beautiful poem. It is simple in form but profound in meaning.
评论5：
Summary
The speaker stands in the woods, considering a fork in the road. Both ways are equally worn
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and equally overlaid with un-trodden leaves. The speaker chooses one, telling himself that he will take the other another day. Yet he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to do so. And he admits that someday in the future he will recreate the scene with a slight twist: He will claim that he took the less-traveled road.
From
“The Road Not Taken” consists of four stanzas of five lines. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB; the rhymes are strict and masculine, with the notable exception of the last line (we do not usually stress the -ence of difference). There are four stressed syllables per line, varying on an iambic tetrameter base.
Commentary
This has got to be among the best-known, most-often-misunderstood poems on the planet. Several generations of careless readers have turned it into a piece of Hallmark happy-graduation-son, seize-the-future puffery. Cursed with a perfect marriage of form and content, arresting phrase wrought from simple words, and resonant metaphor, it seems as if “The Road Not Taken” gets memorized without really being read. For this it has died the cliché’s un-death of trivial immortality.
But you yourself can resurrect it from zombie-hood by reading it—not with imagination, even, but simply with accuracy. Of the two roads the speaker says “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.” In fact, both roads “that morning lay / In leaves no step had trodden black.” Meaning: Neither of the roads is less traveled by. These are the facts; we cannot justifiably ignore the reverberations they send through the easy aphorisms of the last two
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stanzas.
One of the attractions of the poem is its archetypal dilemma, one that we instantly recognize because each of us encounters it innumerable times, both literally and figuratively. Paths in the woods and forks in roads are ancient and deep-seated metaphors for the lifeline, its crises and decisions. Identical forks, in particular, symbolize for us the nexus of free will and fate: We are free to choose, but we do not really know beforehand what we are choosing between. Our route is, thus, determined by an accretion of choice and chance, and it is impossible to separate the two.
This poem does not advise. It does not say, “When you come to a fork in the road, study the footprints and take the road less traveled by” (or even, as Yogi Berra enigmatically quipped, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it”). Frost’s focus is more complicated. First, there is no less-traveled road in this poem; it isn’t even an option. Next, the poem seems more concerned with the question of how the concrete present (yellow woods, grassy roads covered in fallen leaves) will look from a future vantage point.
The ironic tone is inescapable: “I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence.” The speaker anticipates his own future insincerity—his need, later on in life, to rearrange the facts and inject a dose of Lone Ranger into the account. He knows that he will be inaccurate, at best, or hypocritical, at worst, when he holds his life up as an example. In fact, he predicts that his future self will betray this moment of decision as if the betrayal were inevitable. This realization is ironic and poignantly pathetic. But the “sigh” is critical. The speaker will not, in his old age, merely gather the youth about him and say, “Do what I did, kiddies. I stuck to my guns, took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Rather, he may say this, but he will sigh first; for he won’t believe it himself. Somewhere in the back of his mind will
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remain the image of yellow woods and two equally leafy paths.
Ironic as it is, this is also a poem infused with the anticipation of remorse. Its title is not “The Road Less Traveled” but “The Road Not Taken.” Even as he makes a choice (a choice he is forced to make if does not want to stand forever in the woods, one for which he has no real guide or definitive basis for decision-making), the speaker knows that he will second-guess himself somewhere down the line—or at the very least he will wonder at what is irrevocably lost: the impossible, unknowable Other Path. But the nature of the decision is such that there is no Right Path—just the chosen path and the other path. What are sighed for ages and ages hence are not so much the wrong decisions as the moments of decision themselves—moments that, one atop the other, mark the passing of a life. This is the more primal strain of remorse.
Thus, to add a further level of irony, the theme of the poem may, after all, be “seize the day.” But a more nuanced carpe diem, if you please.
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