But then, just when such a dismissal of the speaker’s commitment seems entirely grounded, such rationalization for choosing one path over the other is jettisoned on the rapid realization and even swifter acceptance that such an opportunity to try taking paths down two divergent roads is so rare as to be non-existent. What may initially seem to be a decision entirely grounded in rebellious nose-thumbing at joining the crowd quickly becomes an abject lesson in rationalization: he can always come back and try out that other path later on, which is more characteristic of someone hedging their bets than the mark of a rugged individualist. Within a span of moments Frost offers us an eternity of possibilities that have little if anything to do with the vaunted reading of the poem as a tour de force of non-conformist thought. The third stanza would seem to confirm that the common interpretation of the poem as if it actually were about “The Road Less Traveled” is very simplistic, indeed. By stanza’s end, however, not only does he appear to have retracted from that rebellious impulse, but now seems even to be wavering over which of trail actually is the one less traveled The second stanza offers a hint of the ambiguity to come at the poem’s close and always seems to be the one which has led so many readers to misinterpret the poem under its misapprehended title “The Road Less Traveled.” Frost purposely aims to convince the reader that the speaker is full of the spirit of Yankee individualism and non-conformity by appearing ready to make the quick decision to go down the road less traveled. The first stanza is not just about coming to a fork in the road of life, it is also quite specifically about how the choices we make must so often be made with the undergrowth of the unknown blocking our access to fully seeing the future consequences. Frost endows each stanza with its own individual consideration of the titular concept of choices one makes in life and how every choice one makes also allows for the potential of at least one alternative choice that was not make. The simplicity of “The Road Not Taken” is what allows the ultimately ambiguous ending to transform the poem into one with such a universally recognized meaning that it is equally suitable for hanging on a kitchen wall of a farm in Iowa and for being analyzed by English majors throughout the libraries of the world’s most esteemed colleges.
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