The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost


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.

We read this poem in our Sonlight Core 100 study last week and had such a great discussion about it. First we discussed what was actually going on in the poem. A man, going for a walk in the woods, comes to a fork in the road and picks one of the two paths. Then we talked about the deeper meaning of the poem, how it's about life and decisions we are faced with and how the ones we make impacts the rest of our lives sometimes. Then we discussed what some of those decisions were in our lives, as a family, as individuals. It was really powerful. This has always been one of my favorite poems, and Frost one of my favorite poets.

One of the joys of homeschooling: great discussions!