Robert Frost Poem Interpretation

The Road Not Taken

 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.         

I get the feeling in this poem that the poet is looking back on his life and seeing that one tiny little change can make a huge difference. The roads represent the different choices in life- you can be a follower, or you can be a leader. By "taking the road less traveled by", he chose to be different. He made his choice: to be a poet, and obviously it was the correct one, as he is a published author and made money off of his work. This reminds me of the story my dad tells me about how him and my mom met:

It was after a party that mom, dad, one of dad's friends and one of mom's friends had gone to. The two men and the two women were going to walk on the beach. Dad's friend walked off with mom's friend, and mom and dad were left, so dad grabbed mom's hand and they started walking. A few months later, after living together for awhile, they got married... and then had me and my sister and so on and so forth.

That is a very BASIC version of the story, but the main thing I am trying to focus on is that Dad had a big choice to make: to grab mom's hand or NOT to grab mom's hand. And that ONE LITTLE CHOICE- well, that certainly made all the difference.

Neither Out Far Nor In Deep

The people along the sand

All turn and look one way.

They turn their back on the land.

They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass

A ship keeps raising its hull;

The wetter ground like glass

Reflects a standing gull

The land may vary more;

But wherever the truth may be--

The water comes ashore,

And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far.

They cannot look in deep.

But when was that ever a bar

To any watch they keep? 

I feel that this poem is kind of about sticking out. This may sound silly, but take this into consideration: Many people stare at models, and think, "oh, she/he is pretty, and I'd love to date him/her". They judge off of appearance- they don't know what is inside the person- if they are nice, loving. They judge by appearance. Meanwhile, there is a perfectly average person that is very nice and kind- but they don't get a second glance compared to the model. "The land may vary more, but wherever the truth may be: the water comes ashore, and the people look at the sea".

A Patch Of Old Snow

There's a patch of old snow in the corner,

That I should have guessed,

Was a blow-away paper the rain

Had brought to rest,

It is speckled with grime as if

Small print overspread it,

The news of a day I've forgotten,

If I ever read it.

To me, what Frost is trying to get across is that sometimes, people earn something but yet do not receive it. The snow, instead of melting like snow normally does, has survived long enough to become dirty. To some degree that is an achievement- but is still seen only as a patch of dirty snow. It is kind of like someone taking credit for a good deed that you yourself performed, and getting great attention for it- and you stand in the crowd watching, even though it should be YOU getting the attention.