What I Learned From The Road Less Traveled

Photo by James Wheeler

You’ve likely heard a variation of these lines before:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

It is the ending to the poem “The Road Not Taken” (no, it isn’t even titled “The Road Less Traveled”) by Robert Frost, and it is one of the most misinterpreted pieces of writing in American literature.

This is the rallying cry for the outcasts, the outliers, the people who don’t live by the rules that the rest of society follows — sheep that they are!

From every person who has a piece of bric-a-brac embellished with it to every person who clings to it after having done anything that even mildly deviates from the “cultural norm,” we love to believe we are the badasses.

But here’s the thing … that isn’t actually the point of the poem.

These lines are at the very end, and after a plot twist that has been glossed over and forgotten as the years progressed.

We start with a traveler, wandering in nature, who suddenly comes to a split in the path.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

Immediately, the traveler is hit with a pang to travel both. Because who among us…