The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo 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 thereHad worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally layIn 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 sighSomewhere 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.
Words in this poem
- undergrowth n.
- That which grows under trees; specifically, shrubs or small trees growing among large trees.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Road Not Taken is in the public domain. This text is taken from Mountain Interval, Project Gutenberg ebook #29345; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/the-road-not-taken.html, id L02638.
Form and metre
The Road Not Taken is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, as Wikipedia: The Road Not Taken has it. 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAAB woodA · bothB · stoodA · couldA · undergrowthB
- 2 ABAAB fairA · claimB · wearA · thereA · sameB
- 3 ABAAB layA · blackB · dayA · wayA · backB
- 4 ABAAB sighA · henceB · iA · byA · differenceB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And sorry I could not travel both | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| And be one traveler, long I stood | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| And looked down one as far as I could | 10 | ··˘······· |
| To where it bent in the undergrowth; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Then took the other, as just as fair, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And having perhaps the better claim, | 9 | ·/˘˘/·/˘· |
| Because it was grassy and wanted wear; | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Though as for that the passing there | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Had worn them really about the same, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And both that morning equally lay | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| In leaves no step had trodden black. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Oh, I kept the first for another day! | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Yet knowing how way leads on to way, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| I doubted if I should ever come back. | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| I shall be telling this with a sigh | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Somewhere ages and ages hence: | 8 | /·/˘·/˘· |
| Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| I took the one less traveled by, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And that has made all the difference. | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.