the road not taken翻译及赏析

2024年3月13日发(作者：日出江花)

The Road Not Taken 《未选择的路》

罗伯特•弗罗斯特（Robert Frost）生于1874年，卒于1963年，可能要算是20世

纪美国最受欢迎和爱戴的一位诗人了。1912年，他弃农从文，从此成为了一名专业诗人。

他曾在1961年时受邀在约翰•F•肯尼迪总统的就职典礼上朗诵他的诗歌——《The Gift

Outright》。而本次我为大家推荐的《The Road Not Taken》则是他最著名的一首诗歌。

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood 黄色的树林里分出两条路

And sorry I could not travel both 可惜我不能同时去涉足

And be one traveler, long I stood 我在那路口久久伫立

And looked down one as far as I could 我向着一条路极目望去

To where it bent in the undergrown 直到它消失在丛林深处

Then took the other, as just as fair 但我却选了另外一条路

And having perhaps the better claim 它荒草萋萋，十分幽寂

Becau it was grassy and wanted wear; 显得更诱人、更美丽

Though as for that the passing there 虽然在这两条小路上

Had worn them really about the same 都很少留下旅人的足迹

And both that morning equally lay 虽然那天清晨落叶满地

In leaves no step had trodden black 两条路都未经脚印污染

Oh, I kept the first for another day! 呵，留下一条路等改日再见！

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 但我知道路径延绵无尽头

I doubted if I should even come back.恐怕我难以再回返

I shall be telling this with a sigh 也许多少年后在某个地方

Somewhere ages and ages hence: 我将轻声叹息把往事回顾

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--- 一片树林里分出两条路

I took the one less traveled by, 而我选了人迹更少的一条

And that has made all the difference 从此决定了我一生的道路

评论1：

"The Road Not Taken" is a poem by Robert Frost, published in 1916 in the collection

Mountain Interval, it is the first poem in the volume and is printed in italics. The title is often

mistakenly given as "The Road Less Traveled", from the penultimate line: "I took the one less

traveled by".

The poem has two recognized interpretations; one is a more literal interpretation, while the

other is more ironic.

Readers often e the poem literally, as an expression of individualism. Critics typically view

the poem as ironic.[1] – "'The Road Not Taken,' perhaps the most famous example of Frost's own

claims to conscious irony and 'the best example in all of American poetry of a wolf in sheep's

clothing.'"[2] – and Frost himlf warned "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem –

very tricky."[3] Frost intended the poem as a gentle jab at his great friend and fellow poet

Edward Thomas with whom he ud to take walks through the forest (Thomas always

complained at the end that they should have taken a different path) and emed amud at this

certain interpretation of the poem as inspirational.

Literal interpretation

According to the literal (and more common) interpretation, the poem is inspirational, a

paean to individualism and non-conformism.

The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his position. He

has been out walking in the woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down

each one as he can e. He would like to try out both, but doubts he could do that, so therefore

he continues to look down the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which

road to take.

Ironic interpretation

The ironic interpretation, widely held by critics,[1][5] is that the poem is instead about regret

and personal myth-making, rationalizing our decisions.

In this interpretation, the final two lines:

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

are ironic : the choice made little or no difference at all, the speaker's protestations to the

contrary. The speaker admits in the cond and third stanzas that both paths may be equally

worn and equally leaf-covered, and it is only in his future recollection that he will call one road

"less traveled by".

The sigh, widely interpreted as a sigh of regret, might also be interpreted ironically: in a

1925 letter to Cristine Yates of Dickson, Tenne, asking about the sigh, Frost replied: "It was

my rather private jest at the expen of tho who might think I would yet live to be sorry for the

way I had taken in life."

Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey,

life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head.

Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, "The

Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different interpretations. It is one's past, prent

and the attitude with which he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light that

he will e the poem in. In any ca however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost's belief that it

is the road that one choos that makes him the man who he is. "And sorry I could not travel

" It is always difficult to make a decision becau it is impossible not to wonder about the

opportunity cost, what will be misd out on. There is a strong n of regret before the choice

is even made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down

every path. In an attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I could". The

road that will be chon leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much he may strain

his eyes to e as far the road stretches, eventually it surpass his vision and he can never e

where it is going to lead. It is the way that he choos here that ts him off on his journey and

decides where he is going. "Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the better

claim." What made it have the better claim is that "it was grassland wanted wear." It was

something that was obviously not for everyone becau it emed that the majority of people

took the other path therefore he calls it "the road less traveled by". The fact that the traveler

took this path over the more popular, cure one indicates the type of personality he has, one

that does not want to necessarily follow the crowd but do more of what has never been done,

what is new and different. "And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden

black." The leaves had covered the ground and since the time they had fallen no one had yet to

pass by on this road. Perhaps Frost does this becau each time a person comes to the point

where they have to make a choice, it is new to them, somewhere they have never been and they

tend to feel as though no one el had ever been there either. "I kept the first for another day!"

The desire to travel down both paths is expresd and is not unusual, but "knowing how way

leads on to way", the speaker of this poem realizes that the decision is not just a temporary one

and he "doubted if I should ever come back." This is his common n speaking and

acknowledging that what he choos now will affect every other choice he makes afterward.

Once you have performed an act or spoken a word that crystallizes who you are, there is no

turning back and it cannot be undone. Once again at the end of the poem the regret hangs over

the traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. He realizes that at the end of his life, "somewhere

ages and ages hence", he will have regrets about having never gone back and traveling down

the roads he did not take. Yet he remains proud of his decision and he recognizes that it was this

path that he cho that made him turn out the way and he did and live his life the way in which

he lived. "I took the road less traveled by and that had made all the difference." To this man,

what was most important, what really made the difference, is that he did what he wanted, even if

it meant taking the road less traveled. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be the same man he is now.

There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and Robert Frost may have intended this.

He may have been trying to achieve a universal understanding. In other words, there is no

judgment, no specificity, no moral. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision in his life

that had changed the direction of his life from what it may have otherwi been. It allows all

readers from all different experiences to relate to the poem.

评论2：

Robert Frost is one of the finest of rural New England’s 20th century pastoral poets. His

poems are great combination of wisdom, harmony and renity. They are simple at first sight,

but demand readers for deep reading to grasp further meaning beyond surface.

The famous poem of Frost The Road Not Taken is my favorite. This poem consists of four

stanzas of five lines. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB. the rhymes are strict and masculine, with

notable exception of the last line. There are four stresd syllables each line, varying on iambic

tetrameter ba.

The Road Not Taken tells about life choice. Man’s life is metaphorically related to a journey

filled with twists and turns. One has to consider a lot before making a wi choice. Though the

diverged roads em identical, they actually lead to different directions, which symbolize

different fates.

A less than rigorous look at the poem may lead one to believe that Frost’s moral is

embodied in tho lines. The poem is taken as a call to independence, preaching originality and

Emersonian lf-reliance. The poem deconstructs its conclusion stanza by stanza.

At the beginning of this poem, the poet shows the inability of human beings to foree the

future, especially the results of choices. At the split in the road, the speaker looks far down both

the two paths to e what each of the paths will bring. However, his sight is limited; his eyes can

only e the path until it bends into “the undergrowth”. Man is free to choo, but doesn’t

know beforehand the results of his choice.

Both roads diverge into a “yellow wood” and appear to be “about the same” in their

purpos. The first path is a more common route. The other is less traveled, which “was grass

and wanted wear”. The poet prents a conflict here—the decision between the common easy

path and exceptional challenging path. The two different paths signify two different kinds of

lives. Choosing the common easy path, people will feel at ea and live in safety, becau the

outcome is predictable. However, that kind of life may be less exciting and lack of novelty. While

choosing the “less traveled” road reprents the gamble of facing a more difficult path in lives.

This forms contrast with familiar lives of most people. People hope to achiever a satisfactory and

interesting life on this road. The wish is good, but reality is full of challenges and uncertainties.

Nobody can be sure of the outcome. After vacillating between the two roads, the poet finally

decides to take the road “less traveled by” and leads a different life from common people.

This may indicate his choice to be a poet, other than other jobs. The poet makes up his mind to

dedicate himlf to poem writing, which is regarded as a less common career.

Once the decision is made, there will be no way to return to the original choice to

experience the other route. So the poet utters “Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted

if I should ever come back.” The made choice is irrevocable, so man must be careful and

rational before making decisions. At the same time, he must be courageous enough to shoulder

the result of his choice, whether it is good or not.

Frost prents man’s limitation to explore life’s different possibilities. The poet “sighs”

at the end of the poem. For at the time of one’s choice, he must give up other choices and miss

some other things. At the same time, he “sighs” with lamentation, pondering what he may

have misd on the other path and that he doesn’t have opportunities to experience another

kind of life.

The Road Not Taken is interpreted universally as a reprentation of two similar choices. At

the beginning, man may face two identical forks, which symbolize the nexus of free choice and

fate. They contrast increasingly with each other as they diverge in their parate directions. Man

is free to choo, but it’s beyond his ability to foretell the conquences. Man can choo a

common route which guarantees a safe and reliable life. He can also choo a less common one

which is unknown, unique and stands out above other el’s. All in all, man must be

responsible for his choice and has courage to shoulder the result. He can never go back to the

past and experience other possibilities. It is impossible to predict the outcome of decisions, so it

is esntial for him to make wi decisions after considering, lecting and questioning which

lection will provide him with fulfillment.

The Road Not Taken is full of philosophical overtones. This poem should be read as a

warning. Man should consider a lot before making choices and reflect over the choices he has

made to discover “all the differences”.

评论3：

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” has been one of the most analyzed, quoted,

anthologized poems in American poetry. A wide-spread interpretation claims that the speaker in

the poem is promoting individualism and non-conformity.

A Tricky Poem

Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had

walked many times in the woods near London. Frost has said that while walking they would

come to different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always fret wondering what they

might have misd by not taking the other path.

About the poem, Frost asrted, "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem - very

tricky." And he is, of cour, correct. The poem has been and continues to be ud as an

inspirational poem, one that to the undiscerning eye ems to be encouraging lf-reliance, not

following where others have led.

But a clo reading of the poem proves otherwi. It does not moralize about choice; it

simply says that choice is inevitable, but you never know what your choice will mean until you

have lived it.

First Stanza – Describes Situation

The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his position. He

has been out walking the woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down

each one as he can e. He would like to try out both, but doubts he could to that, so therefore

he continues to look down the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which

road to take.

Second Stanza – Decides to Take Less-Traveled Road

The speaker had looked down the first one “to where it bent in the undergrowth,” and in

the cond stanza, he reports that he decided to take the other path, becau it emed to have

less traffic than the first. But then he goes on to say that they actually were very similarly worn.

The cond one that he took ems less traveled, but as he thinks about it, he realizes that they

were “really about the same.” Not exactly that same but only “about the same.”

Third Stanza – Continues Description of Roads

The third stanza continues with the cogitation about the possible differences between the

two roads. He had noticed that the leaves were both fresh fallen on them both and had not been

walked on, but then again claims that maybe he would come back and also walk the first one

sometime, but he doubted he would be able to, becau in life one thing leads to another and

time is short.

Also on Suite101

Frost's Snow and Woods

Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ems simple, but its nuanced

phra, "And miles to go before I sleep," offers much about which to Stanza –

Two Tricky Words

The fourth stanza holds the key to the trickiness of the poem:

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.

Tho who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take the word “difference”

to be a positive difference. But there is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference

signals a positive outcome. The speaker could not offer such information, becau he has not

lived the “difference” yet.

The other word that leads readers astray is the word “sigh.” By taking “difference” to

mean a positive difference, they think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief; however, a sigh can

also mean regret. There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh, but also the “what a relief” kind of

sigh. Which one is it?

If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker is glad he took the road he did;

if it is the regret sigh, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing

in regret. But the plain fact is that the poem does not identify the nature of that sigh. The

speaker of the poem does not even know the nature of that sigh, becau that sigh and his

evaluation of the difference his choice will make are still in the future. It is a truism that any

choice an indiviual make is going to make “all the difference” in how our future turns out.

Careful Readers Won’t Be Tricked

So Frost was absolutely correct; his poem is tricky—very tricky. In this poem, it is important

to be careful with the time frame. When the speaker says he will be reporting sometime in the

future how his road choice turned out, he clearly states that he cannot assign meaning to

“sigh” and “difference” yet, becau he cannot know how his choice will affect his future,

until after he has lived it.

评论4：

1．Introduction

As is well known to people, Robert Frost is one of the most famous national poets of

America. Though contemporary with modernists like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Robert Frost is

often regarded as a traditional poet of nature. He rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of

his contemporary. On the contrary, he cho “the old- fashioned way to be new and urged

poets to u the idioms of spoken English and, when possible, to rely on commonplace and

even rustic imagery. And he saw nature as a storehou of analogy and symbol. However, unlike

other poets of nature, he depicted nature as something in constant conflicts with human beings

and bring a deep n of uncertainty and even tragedy to them. Simple as they em, his

poems are often profound in meaning between the lines. Most of his poems are characterized

with an unusual n of tragedy and reflect weakness of human beings in the face of vast,

impersonal force.

Additionally, the poem reflects Frost’s own personal tragedy and his mirable, sorrowful

inner feelings exactly. When it comes to this, his personal life experience has to be taken into

consideration. Famous and popular as he became, but he suffer a lot during all his life. He lost

his father as a young boy, and he was bereaved of his beloved wife in his middle age. What is

wor, all of his children ended up dying young or suffering from mental dia. For him, life

emed to keep playing tricks on him and made his life mirable. As a result, many poems

compod by him, not only this one, are featured with an exotic n of tragic beauty.

2. Analysis

In this poem, the speaker, a traveler in the wood faced with the choice of two roads. The

roads bear two connotations: the material roads and the roads of life. Now, let me give some

specific analysis.

2.1 See over one road

In part one, the speaker faced with two roads in the autumnal wood and feel puzzled over

which one to choo. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, He stood there for a long time

and mud on one of them, which was taken by many people. Unfortunately, he was unable to

find out which place the，road would take him to, for it is far beyond his ability to know where

the road would lead. However, he must choo to take.

2.2. The other one

In part two, he stepped on the other road, “Then took the other, as just as fair”, It was

grassy and not taken. His choice would affect every other subquent choice, and there was no

turning back. From his choice for the less trodden road, it could be concluded that he did not

like to follow the steps of other people, he wanted his own life choired by himlf.

2.3 Helpless

In part three, he decided to choo the less traveled one, but he was aware that he could

never have a chance to return to the first road. “I doubted if I should never come back”

showed he is helpless.

2.4 Cho the less traveled road

In part four, “I shall be telling this with a sign”, he articulated why he cho the less

traveled road, for he expected his life to be unusual and different. But there was no way to

foretell the conquences of his choice.

All in all, for the speaker, the road of life was accident and mystical, and his very choice was

crucial in determining the conquences of his life. The ordinary people follow other’s choice,

while the exceptional ones choo their unique roads of life.

3. Conclusion

3.1 Everyone is a traveler

Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey.

There is never a straight path but a sole direction in which to head. It is one's past, prent and

the attitude with which he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light.

In any ca however, this poem clearly explained Frost's belief that it is the road that one

choos that makes him the man who he is. It is always difficult to make a decision becau it is

impossible not to wonder about the opportunity cost, what will be misd out on. It is

impossible to travel down every path. The road that will be chon leads to the unknown, as

does any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to e as far the road stretches,

eventually it surpass his vision and he can never e where it is going to lead.

It is the way that he choos here that ts him off on his journey and decides where he is

going. It was something that was obviously not for everyone becau it emed that the

majority of people took the other path. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision in his

life that had changed the direction of his life from what it may have otherwi been. It allows all

readers from all different experiences to relate to the poem.

3.2 Human beings are so weak

In a word, the poem The Road Not Taken is a very beautiful and excellent poem. It is t in a

rural natural environment where always inspire the speaker to think of life. It is bad on a

metaphor in which the journey through life is compared to a journey on a road. And the speaker

of the poem has to choo one path instead of another. Even though the two paths look equally

attractive, the speaker knows that his choice at this moment may have a significant influence on

his future. He does make a decision, hoping that he may be able to visit this place again, yet

realizing that such an opportunity is impossible. He imagines himlf in the future telling the

story of his life, and claiming that his decision to take the road less traveled by, the road few

other people have taken, has made all the difference.

This thesis intends to explore Frost’s own view of life. He told us that human beings are so

weak when compared with nature and the destiny. Though human beings have made great

progress in the past veral centuries, there will forever exist something that is far beyond their

control. For human, it is unable to do anything uful when he is in conflict with the impersonal

force. And it’s also unable to control his own destiny; on the contrary, his fate and destiny are

in the charge of something mysterious beyond him. In this n, life is a tragedy to human. So it

could be said that Frost conveyed his n of tragedy common to human through this simple

but beautiful poem. It is simple in form but profound in meaning.

评论5：

Summary

The speaker stands in the woods, considering a fork in the road. Both ways are equally worn

and equally overlaid with un-trodden leaves. The speaker choos one, telling himlf that he

will take the other another day. Yet he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to do

so. And he admits that someday in the future he will recreate the scene with a slight twist: He

will claim that he took the less-traveled road.

From

“The Road Not Taken” consists of four stanzas of five lines. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB;

the rhymes are strict and masculine, with the notable exception of the last line (we do not

usually stress the -ence of difference). There are four stresd syllables per line, varying on an

iambic tetrameter ba.

Commentary

This has got to be among the best-known, most-often-misunderstood poems on the planet.

Several generations of careless readers have turned it into a piece of Hallmark

happy-graduation-son, ize-the-future puffery. Curd with a perfect marriage of form and

content, arresting phra wrought from simple words, and resonant metaphor, it ems as if

“The Road Not Taken” gets memorized without really being read. For this it has died the

cliché’s un-death of trivial immortality.

But you yourlf can resurrect it from zombie-hood by reading it—not with imagination,

even, but simply with accuracy. Of the two roads the speaker says “the passing there / Had

worn them really about the same.” In fact, both roads “that morning lay / In leaves no step had

trodden black.” Meaning: Neither of the roads is less traveled by. The are the facts; we cannot

justifiably ignore the reverberations they nd through the easy aphorisms of the last two

stanzas.

One of the attractions of the poem is its archetypal dilemma, one that we instantly

recognize becau each of us encounters it innumerable times, both literally and figuratively.

Paths in the woods and forks in roads are ancient and deep-ated metaphors for the lifeline, its

cris and decisions. Identical forks, in particular, symbolize for us the nexus of free will and fate:

We are free to choo, but we do not really know beforehand what we are choosing between.

Our route is, thus, determined by an accretion of choice and chance, and it is impossible to

parate the two.

This poem does not advi. It does not say, “When you come to a fork in the road, study

the footprints and take the road less traveled by” (or even, as Yogi Berra enigmatically quipped,

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it”). Frost’s focus is more complicated. First, there

is no less-traveled road in this poem; it isn’t even an option. Next, the poem ems more

concerned with the question of how the concrete prent (yellow woods, grassy roads covered

in fallen leaves) will look from a future vantage point.

The ironic tone is inescapable: “I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and

ages hence.” The speaker anticipates his own future insincerity—his need, later on in life, to

rearrange the facts and inject a do of Lone Ranger into the account. He knows that he will be

inaccurate, at best, or hypocritical, at worst, when he holds his life up as an example. In fact, he

predicts that his future lf will betray this moment of decision as if the betrayal were inevitable.

This realization is ironic and poignantly pathetic. But the “sigh” is critical. The speaker will not,

in his old age, merely gather the youth about him and say, “Do what I did, kiddies. I stuck to my

guns, took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Rather, he may say

this, but he will sigh first; for he won’t believe it himlf. Somewhere in the back of his mind will

remain the image of yellow woods and two equally leafy paths.

Ironic as it is, this is also a poem infud with the anticipation of remor. Its title is not

“The Road Less Traveled” but “The Road Not Taken.” Even as he makes a choice (a choice he

is forced to make if does not want to stand forever in the woods, one for which he has no real

guide or definitive basis for decision-making), the speaker knows that he will cond-guess

himlf somewhere down the line—or at the very least he will wonder at what is irrevocably lost:

the impossible, unknowable Other Path. But the nature of the decision is such that there is no

Right Path—just the chon path and the other path. What are sighed for ages and ages hence

are not so much the wrong decisions as the moments of decision themlves—moments that,

one atop the other, mark the passing of a life. This is the more primal strain of remor.

Thus, to add a further level of irony, the theme of the poem may, after all, be “ize the

day.” But a more nuanced carpe diem, if you plea.