Road In Their Journey Through Life example essay topic
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 traveller "looks down one as far as I could", but he can never see where it is going to lead. The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. It is the way that they choose, that sets them off on their journey and decides where they " re 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 grassy and wanted wear". It was something that was obviously not for everyone because it seemed that the majority of people took the other path therefore they call it "the road less travelled by". The fact that the traveller took this path over the more popular, indicates the type of personality they are, 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. The desire to travel down both paths is expressed. The speaker of this poem realizes that the decision is not a temporary one and he "doubted if I should ever come back". This is their common sense speaking and acknowledging that what they choose now will affect every other choice they make afterward. Once you have performed an act or spoken a word that creates who you are, there is no turning back, it cannot be undone. Once again at the end of the poem the regret hangs over the traveller.
They realize that at the end of their life, "somewhere ages and ages hence", they will have regrets about having never gone back and travelling down the roads he did not take. Yet they remain proud of their decision and they recognize that it was this path that they chose that made them turn out the way they did and live their life the way in which they lived. "I took the road less travelled by and that had made all the difference". To this person, what was most important, what really made the difference, is that they did what they wanted, even if it meant taking the road less travelled. If they hadn't, they wouldn't be the same person they are now.