Question about The Road Not Taken (1 Viewer)

[BackCountrySnow]

So he takes the path that appears less traveled by (the grassy one) but then after a while he realizes that they are both pretty much worn out about the same.

But then in the last stanza he says that he took the road less traveled by. Didn't he just conclude that both paths were worn equally so he really didn't take the path less traveled by?

 

[BackCountrySnow]

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.

He believes he took the road less traveled by, but realizes later he didn't. But then at the end he says he took the path less traveled by.

And I know that there is no longer a stimulus booklet but I'm still using the road not taken as a related text.

 

[BackCountrySnow]

He takes the road that seems less traveled by.
( Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim)

But then he concludes that they're both worn out the same.
(Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same)

But then at the end he says he took the road less traveled by.
( Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by)

Why would he say he took the road less traveled by when he already concluded that they were both equally worn?

 

[BackCountrySnow]

anyone?

 

[-tal-]

He takes the road that seems less traveled by.
( Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim)

But then he concludes that they're both worn out the same.
(Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same)

But then at the end he says he took the road less traveled by.
( Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by)

Why would he say he took the road less traveled by when he already concluded that they were both equally worn?

I think he means it as in he feels content that hasn't taken the stereotypical route that everyone else around him has. Most people in his situation would have restrained themselves, and wouldn't have had the "affair" (I'm using a very easy to understand context) like he did. So when he looks bacl on his life, he doesn't go "what if?". He feels at peace with himself, that he knows (what would've happened, what it was like), and wouldn't have done anything differently.

Robert Frost, is it?

 

[-WaxingLyrical-]

So he takes the path that appears less traveled by (the grassy one) but then after a while he realizes that they are both pretty much worn out about the same.

But then in the last stanza he says that he took the road less traveled by. Didn't he just conclude that both paths were worn equally so he really didn't take the path less traveled by?

Yes, you're making it out to be more confusing than it really is and missing the point of the poem. Read the fourth stanza more carefully

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.

The poem is about reflection, but it is detached from emotions (in the respect that it's not about whether it really was a positive/negative outcome). Take a look at the sparknotes explanation for clarification.

http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/frost/section7.rhtml

 

[sherylbobbins]

I thought it was as if both paths would be worn about the same if they had equal numbers of people pass through. But the road that he chose was less worn because less had travelled along it. Maybe *shrugs*