Your Favorite Writing

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 kept 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.

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" can make anyone feel nostalgic, and its abstract and delicate brilliance is why it is my favorite piece of writing.

"The Road Not Taken" harkens back to a crossroads that everyone has experienced at least once in their lifetime. 

It is natural to wonder at what could've been, and Frost captures the emotion of standing before this sort of crossroads in a somber yet uplifting way. 

Frost's last line, "and that has made all the difference," is the sort of line that must be savored in a way that is truly unique in writing.

Unique in the way that the piece builds on itself, Frost erases all suspense early on in the poem by saying exactly what choice he made.

Humans are prone to making quick decisions and only thinking long and hard about them after the fact, “The Road Not Taken” is a reflection of this natural tendency.

Instead, Frost uses two whole stanzas, much more than he used to set up the poem, to simply reflect on his choices and ponder at what would’ve been had he done things differently.

Robert Frost used polished prose to craft a 20-line masterpiece which will be remembered forever in the hearts of literature fans everywhere.