They couldn’t decide on their own and they relied on others for prosperity. People followed what the majority was doing and they lost connection with themselves and nature as well. They were worried about the situation that has changed the nature of human thinking. It created a frustrating situation for those people who came from open lands.īy 1916, artists, philosophers, and other sensitive people started questioning the depersonalizing effects of urbanization and industrialization. These living quarters were made together on top of one another. The cities started to construct new quarters for the coming families. Immigrants from other countries came for the same reason. Industrialization was the dominant social force in the last half of the nineteenth-century.Īs factories went up, people came to cities to get jobs. In 1916, this question was part of the debate. The relation between people and society is the central core of “The Road Not Taken.” The poet asks the question of whether one must follow the footsteps of the majority or the least traveled path. Each side has a good reason to choose their path and face the consequences. Britain joined other countries in the fight and America tried to stay away from it. The central subject of “The Road Not Taken” reflects the position of the two countries where Frost had lived. When Frost and his family went home, England was already at war. It was a year after this poem was published when America had to choose between joining the war. The American public wanted no involvement in World War I. It became difficult for economic powers like the U.S. The industrial revolution in the late 1800s brought advances in international commerce through advances in travel and communication. The pleasing connection with nature and one’s personal feelings regarding one’s future are the main subjects of this poem. They started treating events and feelings relative. This affected the thinking of people to a great extent. The end result of any choice that a person makes is not absolute. Secondly, Albert Einstein came up with his theory of relativity which claimed that things are dependent on relative circumstances and not on absolute knowledge. Firstly, in 1916, an act of Congress made “The National Park Services” to keep millions of acres of the forest land safe for the enjoyment of future generations. When this poem was written, things of great importance were occurring in the poet’s life and social order. Therefore, it is not possible to identify one specific meaning as the one that the poet had in mind. There were different historically significant events going on in 1916. You will always regret and wish you had taken the other one.” In this way, Frost wrote this poem to be a light-hearted one but it turned to be more serious and ambiguous for readers. Thomas would think that if they had chosen the other path, it might have offered them many opportunities to see and experience nature.Īt such times of regret, Frost would always tell Thomas that “It does not matter what road you take. Thomas would always sigh over what they would have seen if they had taken the other path.

Edward Thomas, an English-Welsh poet, would always regret not taking the other path. Frost used to frequently take long walks with Thomas through the countryside.

The inspiration of “The Road Not Taken” came when Frost noticed a familiar habit of his close friend in England, Edward Thomas. Frost’s Inspiration for “The Road Not Taken”

This poem is one of the most well-known and most often misunderstood poems of Robert Frost.

It presents a narrator who is recalling his journey through the forest when he had to choose between two divergent roads. This poem was used as an opening poem of Robert Frost’s collection Mountain Interval in 1916. It was published in The Atlantic Monthly in August 1915. “The Road Not Taken” is a poem by Robert Frost. Frost’s Inspiration for “The Road Not Taken”.

The road not taken short story