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;
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.
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.
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.
wrote Robert Frost in “The Road Not Taken,” (1951).
Robert Frost first published poems in his high school bulletin and graduated co-valedictorian with the woman he was to marry.
Farming in New Hampshire, Frost wrote poetry and taught at several schools.
After a brief time in England, he taught at Amherst College, the University of Michigan and Harvard.
Robert Frost won four Pulitzer prizes, the U.S. Senate honored him with a resolution, Eisenhower invited him to the White House and he read a poem at Kennedy’s inauguration.
Frost was a consultant to the Library of Congress and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960.
In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Frost wrote
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He give his harness bell a shake
To ask if there is some mistake,
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost died JANUARY 29, 1963.
In a 1956 interview on station WQED, Pittsburgh, Robert Frost stated
“Ultimately, this is what you go before God for:
You’ve had bad luck and good luck and all you really want in the end is mercy.”
William J. Federer is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America’s noble heritage.
To learn more about the author please visit William Federer
Featured image: Courtesy of Bachrach/Getty Images
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