The inspiration for the poem, "The Road Not Taken-, came from Frost's amusement over a familiar characteristic of his closest friend in England, Edward Thomas. While living in Gloucestershire in 1914, Frost frequently took long walks with Thomas through the countryside. time after time Thomas would choose a route which might enable him to show his American friend a rare plant or a special scene; but it often happened that before the end of such a walk Thomas would regret the choice he had made and would sigh over what he might have shown Frost if they had taken a "better" direction. More than once, on such occasions, the New Englander had teased his Welsh-English friend for those wasted regrets and Frost found something quaintly romantic in sighing over what might have been. Such a course of action was a road never taken by Frost, a road he had been taught to avoid. In a reminiscent mood, not very long after his return to America as a successful, newly discovered poet, Frost pretended to "carry himself" in the manner of Edward Thomas just long enough to write "The Road Not Taken".
THEME.
Figuratively, "The Road Not Taken" is applied to a person's life. The traveler is a person who has two choices, which are represented in the poem by the two roads in the woods. The person takes the time to consider both choices and all sides to them by examining the paths. The traveler cannot come back to the other road and as in life if a choice is made, it is impossible to redo. The person must choose between the choices many make or the choice that few make.
Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is a lyrical poem about the decisions that one must make in life. When a man approaches a fork in the road on which he is traveling, he must choose which path to take. The choice that he makes, as with any choices made in life, affects him in a way that "has made all the difference. Thematically, the poem argues that no matter how small a decision is that decision will affect a person's life forever as well as emphasizing that these repercussions to the final decision leads everyone to a fresh start a new life.
