The Inevitability Of Decision Making - A Short Review of Robert Frost's Poem, The Road Not Taken

in OCD4 years ago

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Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken is arguably one of the finest poems written in the English Language. Written in 1915 as a joke for his friend, Edward Thomas, who was always indecisive about which road to take when in the wood with Frost, The Road Not Taken has, over the years, become extremely famous in the literary world.

Frost's poem tells us the importance of the choices we make and how those choices, good or bad, may end up affecting our journey through life. Frost wants us to know that there comes a critical moment (in the life of everyone) when our decisions will be all that matter.

Precisely, The Road Not Taken tells us about a certain traveller who is confronted with the choice of travelling either of the two roads which stretches out before him. The traveller has never travelled both roads and does not know the dangers or opportunities that await him.

However, he has to swiftly decide which road to travel. Hear the captivating, opening lines of the poem:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

The narrator becomes confused but tries to examine the situation to reach at least a rational decision. The narrator, having weighed his options, decides to travel the more grassy and relatively fair road. He says:

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 there
Had worn them really about the same,

The narrator goes on to express his regrets for being unable to travel the road not taken and hopes, though quite unlikely, that he would come back another day to travel it. Or perhaps, the road he has decided to take will somehow lead him to the road not taken.

And both that morning equally lay
In 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.

In the last stanza of the poem, the narrator consoles himself and travels into the future. He hopes that, regardless of the outcome of his decisions, the courage to travel a less travelled road will make a great difference. Therefore, the narrator implies that it is better to make a wrong decision than to wallow in the waters of indecision.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere 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.


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Indecision is the worst. It is crucial to take quick firm decisions and work through the difficulties along the way

Indecision may be bad, but I believe the more important question is how one makes decisions. I tend to avoid rational thought as much as possible, and go with my gut feelings. Or, as Robert Frost might say, just go wherever my footsteps lead me.

Over the years, my footsteps have taking me around the world and back, and further! And for sure, I have no regrets.

I share your sentiments regarding decision making. Sometimes, it's not about rationality but where our guts lead us. That way, we learn to be free,learn to live and not merely exist in the scheme of things.

I hope to also tour the world someday as you've done, broaden my horizon, and grow in wisdom as you have. Thanks for stopping by,boss.

Let's hope the world opens up again, sometime soon. Then you can set out on the first leg of your world tour.

As for the pandemic, lately I've been hoping that the virus will make a coordinated attack on most of our political leaders. If the virus had any decency, it'd leave the good people alone, and just kill off all our despicable leaders. Then we could restart, and maybe develop a politico-economic system that is fairer, kinder, and more beneficial to all. That aint asking too much, is it?

I strongly do hope that the world returns to normal as soon as possible. As for your request, it is a noble one which I very much agree with. We need new names. And I should say that your request was granted in Nigeria already as a certain man of the cabal, call him the de-facto president if you like, was taken recently. Perhaps more will join in the roll soon. Cheers!

Gut feeling is important. It is sometimes up ahead of the rational mind long before we know it

Indeed. I think intuition trumps the workings of the rational mind most of the time. In fact, I believe that the rational mind cannot really accomplish much without the input of our intuition.

Intuition is so powerful, I can rarely remember one time when it was wrong. When we do not listen to it we get into trouble, that kind of vibe "there is something about this....".

Absolutely agree with you. Far better to make a poor decision than to not make any decision at all.