American's Favorate Poem

GaryG48 · Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:44 pm

In a book that tries to explain quantum mechanics to non-physicists, Quantum: A Brief Guide for the Perplexed, author Jim Khalili says, "I few years ago I read that Robert Frost's Poem 'The Road Not Taken' had been voted by Americans the most popular poem of all time."

If a physicist writing a book for laymen say so, it must be true. The poem has been posted elsewhere put I will put it here and then makes some comments.

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as long 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 ware,
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 kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I could 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.

Now I like this poem a lot but because I am a Frost nut you can't rely on me to be objective. This poem is very regular. Every stanza has five lines, every line has nine syllables. The rhyme scheme is always ABAAB. I wonder if that consistency is part of the reason this poem is "most popular."

Here is an inconsistency--Two roads diverged in a wood and I--
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

Except earlier Frost said:

Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

So does he mean he took the road that for some unknown reason is considered the one less traveled by? If so, what does that mean?

tbarron · Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:59 pm

Perhaps he made an unconventional choice that had a profound effect on his life?

GaryG48 · Sat Oct 16, 2010 11:37 pm


	tbarron wrote: Perhaps he made an unconventional choice that had a profound effect on his life?

Yes, the last stanza taken by itself must mean that or something close. But why say, in an earlier stanza, that in fact both paths had been used the same? Perhaps as many people choose the one Frost chose but the one he chose is "considered" unconventional. I'm just grasping at straws here.

DWill · Sun Oct 17, 2010 8:04 am

Gary, I would first "disagree" that this is the "best" poem out there, and even that it is the best of Frost's, but the people have spoken. I've always explained the paradox you've brought up in this way: the two roads appear to be more or less the same, but there might be some indistinct sign that one is a little different, and that is an attractive difference. Just as in life we might be attracted or diverted almost without knowing what we are responding to, so is the speaker in the poem.

Alternatively, the speaker, looking back at the choice he made long ago, now realizes that the path he chose was the one less used, though he had no idea of that at the time. Only the passage of time showed him this.

GaryG48 · Sun Oct 17, 2010 8:18 am

DWill,

Thank you for the interpretation of the paradox. I agree that this is not Frost's best. But I think I can understand why Americans might vote it the most popular. If nothing else, it can be understood at one level on first reading.

phillies4evr · Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:59 pm

DWill..... I am sorry but I will have to disagree with you. In my eyes, "The Road Not Taken', has always been my favorite poem of all times! In some ways, I feel that this poem refers to me and my life in general. I have never felt a larger connection to any poetry ever written besides this one.

DWill · Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:12 pm


	phillies4evr wrote: DWill..... I am sorry but I will have to disagree with you. In my eyes, "The Road Not Taken', has always been my favorite poem of all times! In some ways, I feel that this poem refers to me and my life in general. I have never felt a larger connection to any poetry ever written besides this one.

Don't be sorry to disagree, phiilies4ever (and good luck on Wednesday).

phillies4evr · Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:26 pm

DWill.....what is happening on Wednesday????????

DWill · Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:31 pm

I thought it was game 3 vs. Giants, no?

phillies4evr · Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:50 pm

no, tomorrow is!!!!!!!!!!!! hamels is our pitcher.........only 3 wins to go!!!!!!!!!

froglipz · Sat Oct 23, 2010 2:29 pm

The Road Not Taken is a great poem (and I am also a Frost nut) but there are many more out there that he wrote that are better, IMHO. I would have thought that Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening would have gotten the nod from the public at large too.

I definitely think that he is looking back in retrospect at the paths and seeing how the one he chose was more unconventional, and how he did not see that difference in his youth when he walked that path the first time. Clearly he is happy with the choice he made.

phillies4evr · Sat Oct 23, 2010 2:43 pm

It is still the poem that i feel connected with!!!!!!!!!....the road not taken!!!!!!!

DWill · Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:11 pm


	froglipz wrote: The Road Not Taken is a great poem (and I am also a Frost nut) but there are many more out there that he wrote that are better, IMHO. I would have thought that Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening would have gotten the nod from the public at large too. I definitely think that he is looking back in retrospect at the paths and seeing how the one he chose was more unconventional, and how he did not see that difference in his youth when he walked that path the first time. Clearly he is happy with the choice he made.

Well, maybe he's happy, but "a sigh" can indicate a little of contentment and a little of regret as well. "Difference" can be something to be thankful for or to just see in a neutral way.

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