Road Not Taken Commentary

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I began my adventure into poetry like a teenager drinks coffee, not because I enjoyed it but because I thought it was a sign of intellect. I had convinced myself that poetry is like fine wine; if you don’t enjoy it you’re clearly uncultured.
The first poem I truly found myself in love with was “Stopping by Woods on a snowy evening”. I first came upon this poem while watching the Quentin Tarantino film “Death Proof” (Tarantino). Stuntman Mike played by Kurt Russell recited the stanza “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. And I have promises to keep. Miles to go before I sleep. Did you hear me, Butterfly? Miles to go, before you sleep.” (Tarantino) Even after the movie ended I couldn’t get it out of my head. I looked up the poem and then found myself reading everything by Frost I could get my hands on.
Robert Frost is a critically renowned American poet. His poetry is as American as baseball and apple pie. His subjects aren’t abstract concepts but things that people can relate to, nature, day to day life, and the feeling of …show more content…

In one of his better-known and often misinterpreted poems “The Road Not Taken” Frost warned people that “You have to be careful of that one; it’s a tricky poem – very tricky”. (Smallwood). Many people interpret the poem as Frost telling them don’t be a sheep and follow the path less traveled. In all actuality, he is telling the reader it doesn’t matter which path you take they are essentially the same only afterwards will you justify why you took one road instead of the other.
When writing this poem, Frost wasn’t thinking about a figurative road but an actual road. He was poking fun at his friend Edward Thomas. Frost and Thomas were close friends who used to take walks together and during these walks Thomas would often be indecisive about which path to take. The poem is Frost’s way of telling Thomas “god damn it pick a path they’re all the same