Let's Talk with Debra H. Goldstein
The Road Not Taken
October 10, 2024
Robert Frost’s poetry has always intrigued me. Two poems – The Road Not Taken and Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening have served almost as a mantra for my interpretation of how life should be lived and understood. Imagine my dismay when I recently learned that The Road Not Taken, rather than being a philosophical commentary, was written as a joke to gently mock Frost’s friend, the poet Edward Thomas.
At one point in their lives, the two often took long nature walks. Invariably, if they came to a fork in the road, Thomas, who suffered from depression, would hesitate. Eventually, he would choose one hoping to find something beautiful to see. More often than not, he was disappointed in his choice and rued not taking the other path.
When Frost wrote his poem, he was joking about his friend’s indecisiveness and probably making a play on Thomas’ poem, Roads. Thomas lived in a country where roads made by the Romans were still in use, albeit paved or modified from their original dirt existence. In his poem, written as men were going off to World War I, Thomas addressed that many who walked the roads to war would not return.
Thomas responded to Frost’s poem by noting that people would not understand his underlying joke, but instead would embrace the words as having a more significant meaning. History and poetic writings have demonstrated that Thomas was correct. The poem has been understood to mean taking a chance on the road less traveled, but a careful look at the words shows the roads to be similar and the choice to be on impulse. The message becomes the spontaneity of choice rather than mourning the road not taken.
Choosing the road to writing for an author is a choice of passion. There may be pitfalls and ruts to overcome, but a writer can’t reflect on what life would have been if the writing path wasn’t picked. Why? Because we do it for the love of the act of writing – and couldn’t exist within ourselves if we chose differently.
Is there something that you are so passionate about that that is the only road you could have followed?
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Posted in Let's Talk, with Debra H. Goldstein • Tags: Debra H Goldstein, Let's Talk, Nature Walks, The Road Not Taken | 7 Comments
Thank you, Debra. I never knew this about my life-long favorite poem. I’m walking over to the copy hanging on my wall to re-read it with different eyes. Once again, your writing has inspired me to contemplate life (as you did with One Taste Too Many).
How true it is that those of us who write must love to do so. Otherwise, we’d throw our hands up in exasperation and move on to something else.
Most writers write because they can’t not write (excuse the double-negative!) Those who write because they’ve been seduced into thinking it’s a quick journey toward riches will be sorely disappointed and quickly pick another road.
Being a mother is definitely one of those choices. I have two children and there has definitely been hard times and wonderful times. Would not change it for nothing.
I’ve made several choices that have led to the path I am on. The only thing I might do differently if given a second chance would be to pursue writing sooner.
As a youngster, I didn’t get the Frost poem at all. We went down every road we came to as kids because we wanted to see everything. This even included the rough-hewn fire trails in the woods, which was mostly wide enough for two people to ride horses side by side. We also rode on the salt pan marshes and explored everywhere we could go ( and you always hoped you didn’t get the mount that rolled in the marsh and then ran off, leaving you to walk home). And before you go thinking we were rich because there were horse, that wasn’t the case. There were a few horses in the neighborhood and the owners were always happy to have them exercised. We rode bareback and barefoot, sometimes even without a bridle. But I digress. At times when I needed to make decisions in life, I was always decisive. All that early exploration taught me a lot about myself. I have no regrets.
When I was young I was shy, I guess I would do away with the shyness, but than again, that wouldn’t have been me.