Talk:The Road Not Taken

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Untitled[edit]

See: Wikipedia:WikiProject Poetry#Individual poems on guidelines on articles on individual poems.

Full Text[edit]

Considering that a link to the poem in the proper place, Wikisource, is already in the article, I do not believe the text of the poem should be written. I am removing it (again) unless someone has some compelling reason for me to replace it. Nrbelex (talk) 21:06, 29 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I see where you may be coming from, considering that i recently dealt with this on the UN Declaration of Human Rights page, however I feel that the full text should stay. The poem is rather short and having it right there allows for us to speak of itnerpretations of the poem with the reader being able to immediately check against the poem itself. (Oh, and I gave this a talk category) Sir Elderberry 16:02, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Sir Elderberry. The article is much weaker without the text of the poem, and especially if any further information about it gets added later, when having the text as reference will be very useful. I want the text back. Djr36 21:12, 5 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Could someone post a precedent here, cause I support posting the full text. Nick1000 04:30, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

hi

The Unknown Citizen heres a precedent Warfwar3 18:34, 19 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I have put it back. Fire & Ice have the full test there. --Ahkat (talk) 07:26, 30 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also, Wikipedia:WikiProject Poetry#Individual poems recommends including the full text for short poems.
Nbarth (email) (talk) 00:27, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not cool that Bartleby's, not our Wikipedia, comes up way on top in search results for "two roads diverged in a yellow wood", so I'm putting the full text back in, k? LeoRomero (talk) 07:39, 10 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That is perhaps the worst reason I've ever seen for an edit. --jpgordon::==( o ) 17:46, 10 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I've given worse reasons. In any case: Inclusion of full text is in Dispute Resolution LeoRomero (talk) 17:52, 10 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Autobiographical Section[edit]

Why is there an autobiographical section? If it offered some central information such as that Frost's family was mostly agrarian but he chose to become a poet, then it would be useful. As it stands, it is a repeat of the page on Robert Frost

It is not the factthat the poem reflects Frost's profession, but the influnce within his profession, in which he uses the old verse forms instead of following the way of that time which was to experiment with new verse forms.--May the Force be with you! Shreshth91($ |-| r 3 $ |-| t |-|) 10:41, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps it should be merged with the section below. It just seems that the biographical section does not clearly draw the connection between aspects of his life and this particular poem. Maybe as a subtitle in the Interpretation section, there could be a little bit about his life and how it influenced his poetry and this in particular.

Is it less traveled?[edit]

The speaker only claims that it was the path less traveled in the fourth stanza, when he is looking back upon his choice. In the second stanza the speaker decides that "the passing there/Had worn them really about the same", or that there was no path less traveled. Perhaps the speaker likes to think that he has taken the path less traveled when really, he is just a guy who can't make up his mind. I will not make any changes to the page as I am not ignorant enough to pretend that my opinion is the only one that matters yet it may be a good idea not to make any kind of attempt of explicating the poem. The Road Not Taken is far more complicated than many think and perhaps Wikipedia should offer just the concrete facts and no opinions in their pages. I am not at all an expert on poetry explication, so if you are, please share your ideas as they would be very helpful.

~Owen

I think that this comment is a mistake - it was _the passing there_ that had worn them really about the same. That is, it was definitely less traveled, but even a less traveled road gets more traveled when the author travels it. I took that part of the comment out, since I think it's (a) wrong, and (b) unsourced. But I think it should be replaced by a sourced description of an alternative explanation, if someone knows one. MikeR613 (talk) 14:59, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
What he means by it is that though one path is less travelled, neither path has been used recently, so the leaves have fallen equally on both sides and nobody's steps have disturbed them. That is why they look equal to him that morning when he passes there.--May the Force be with you! Shreshth91($ |-| r 3 $ |-| t |-|) 10:48, 30 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
While the writer of the explication makes a very compelling point, the writer's tone is unbalanced and should probably not be offerred unless he or she can offer an equally compelling argument to the contrary. This explication is far less encyclopedaic than it is editorial.

Rob 04:06, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think we can state what Frost actually means by any of this unless we are quoting a reference in which Frost himself offers such information or insight. Anything of that sort is simply opinion and not fact .. Thus has no place in this wiki .. A .. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.172.169.15 (talk) 15:29, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is. When the author says, "And both that morning equally lay in leaves", he may be speaking of deception. The roads covered by the leaves can be a representation of confusion created by the deception of the paths covered by leaves, which signifies that though the two paths were different, the leaves make them look the same. And the lines, "Oh! I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads onto way, I doubted if I should ever come back." may mean that the poet is regretting that though he knew he wouldn't be able to turn back and take the "road taken", and yet he took the "road not taken", which may refer to his decision to be a poet. With this in mind, it is surely a road less traveled.

What If?[edit]

What if Widipedia asked experts to write their ideas and then put them all in, under an opinion section or somthing. That way we could know what was fact and what was just an idea. --216.170.244.103 02:03, 21 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't follow the logic that adding ideas to the page would help its readers distinguish facts from ideas, but generally I agree that this page in particular would benefit from sources that explicate this poem. -- thither 03:20, 14 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]


What is endlessly interesting to me is that the word "ALAS" is actually in the last couplet - so it is NOT a happy poem. I don't know how or where, but somehow this very obviously UNHAPPY word has been removed from the text in every online reference I have seen. I know - I studied this ad nauseum in undergrad. That is why the poem is called THE ROAD NOT TAKEN, and the speaker says, with a sigh, "ALAS": he's NOT happy about his choice of roads. I think it is rather funny how this has become misconstrued as a work of contentment.

Lyrics[edit]

Are we allowed to have lyrics here? I asked elsewhere, and it was suggested that we cannot put lyrics on the site because of copyright violations.--Vercalos 05:30, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Lyrics are the words in a song. This is a poem. Also, since this poem was published before 1923 it is in the public domain, so there is no copyright violation. --Carlos 23:31, 10 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Meaning[edit]

Frost uses metaphor in the poem; comparing the two paths to the choices we choose in life and what the consequences of it will be. He's not talking about standing out of the crowd, otherwise the title would be "The Road Taken" instead of "The Road Not Taken". He clearly explains that we would later have to deal with the experiences we did not have.


I removed this from the main article:

-- I must take issue with the last opinion statement just above this. I feel that by definition, a true Poet is taking the "road less traveled". Much of what comes to pass as Modern Poetry is written by brave youths in angst of some precieved slight. However real or not this slight may be, their words will carry both more and less weight for the both the writer and the reader long after said youth has shed the quill along with his/her childhood to follow other potentials. However, the true Poet, gives his life to a craft, and a world, that is rarely grateful within his lifetime and is more often thereafter forgotten entirely. This is frequently done to express a personal view that is often misinterpreted or overlooked by "more learned" genteel laypersons. However, a true Poet is willing to endure such for the love of the Craft and the Art. This act is rarely within the scope of the average person's vision and desires. However, this by no means guarantees the words or meaning of their life's toil are good, or even plausibe. But, by these very facts do they follow a "road less traveled". To think less of it is to become less while thinking yourself more. ssandefur -- opinion, ex parte.

-- In addition, that he told it "with a sigh" by no means necessitates that he was lying. He very easily could have been and, it seems, was, implying that any choice leads "on to way", and no matter what, when one looks back one always regrets the road not taken, or at least the possibility of it.

I believe he is talking about the difficult decision he had to make about moving to England short after his son, mother and one day old baby girl died. It was difficult and costly to go across the atlantic during this time, but it was a good thing he did the difficult thing because Frost was discovered as a poet while he was in England. So i guess he would say it with a "sigh" because in the end it was the death of three people who were very close to him that died for him to want a chance to start over in life and move to England.

Two sets of explanations[edit]

The article has two sets of explanations. Shouldn't we converge them into one?

--Mahendra 03:49, 17 February 2007 (UTC) This poem used symbolism to tell us that we can only choose one route for our lives, if we had chose the wrong one, then we won't success. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.100.159.220 (talk) 19:06, 28 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

--I think this poem tells us about decisions that we have to make through out our lives and that we must choose wisely because some mistakes are hard to erase. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.205.129.173 (talk) 08:59, 9 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Removed Random Edit[edit]

I've removed this 'random edit':"I hate my wife" from the Explanation. Hopefully no objections... Snowonster 00:53, 2 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Removed still more vandalism from this user: "(she sucks)" Snowonster 01:03, 2 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What awards did this win?!!

Robert Frost won 4 Pulitzer Prizes. If I am not mistaken, The Road Not Taken was in Mountain Internal which was his thrid publication in 1916. He's first Pulitzer Prize wasn't untill 1923 for his fourth publication the New Hampshire Collection.

Awkward sentence?[edit]

"Some believe readers must acknowledge" is, in my opinion, an awkward statement. Any ideas for improvement?

"What This Poem Really Means"[edit]

I believe the final paragraph to the article is out of place, as it is a personal interpretation of the poem (one I strongly disagree with) presented as its true meaning. It also uses informal voice (second person singular) and is just generally poorly-written. I do think that, considering the nature of poetry, all interpretations should have some mention, however this particular entry simply doesn't match the rest of the article. I've just created my wikipedia account, so I'm a bit weary over making any immediate edits right off the bat. In any case, does anyone agree? LbCyber 08:59, 23 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, it's just a personal point of view and should be taken out. WorkerBee 13:31, 23 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This poem amazing[edit]

It unites with the people of America. The road less traveled by is the correct road to take of meaning and so on.


This poem is the best one I've heard in a long time. I love your writing skills Robert Frost! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonas Sister10 (talkcontribs) 19:06, 2 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's not what it means. Both roads were just as traveled. It's only in Frost's memory that he will claim one was "less traveled". The truth is there was no real difference between the 2 paths. --71.72.151.150 (talk) 05:10, 4 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dude, wheres the poem[edit]

well, if its a poem, we should have it, no use explaining something if we dont know what it is.Blacksmith2 talk 09:32, 28 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Interpretations of the poem[edit]

The narrator is NOT saying he took the road less traveled and that that has made all the difference. He is saying that that is how he will tell the story "somewhere ages and ages hence." Not all interpretations are valid, especially if they are based on misreadings of the text. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.237.239.122 (talk) 21:38, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Where is Frost when you need him (He's dead, that's where).24.188.68.134 (talk) 01:12, 29 November 2007 (UTC) Stoical Iceman[reply]

I agree that the article is biased and generally inaccurate. There is a letter a girlfriend once gave me that explained the poem- it was Frost writing to Thomas after having moved back to America. Does anyone know where that is? And is there a reason you cannot have the text here? Copyright? This should be fair use. BondAndFree (talk) 01:50, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Frost said of the poem "I wasn't thinking about myself there, but about a friend who had gone off to war, a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn't go the other. He was hard on himself that way." Kap42 (talk) 23:11, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See the SparkNotes page for the poem and you will see a careful explication backed up by references to the text. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.202.38.102 (talk) 14:27, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I believe I read somewhere that Frost himself stated he had written the poem to poke fun at one of his friends, who hiked with him and would agonize over which path to take if they came upon a fork in the road. If this is true, then the whole poem should be taken to mean something more like choosing a path doesn't really make a difference, shouldn't it? Can anyone confirm whether this is true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.71.165.19 (talk) 23:56, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The "path" mentioned in "The Road Not Taken" represents life in general. Frost explains how is in a situation in his life where he must make a decision. It explains to us how we have to choose one thing, and how some of us spend time deliberating which is the best choice. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.238.73.24 (talk) 22:57, 30 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The "path" may be the choices of your peers. By going on the path not taken, you are being different from everyone else and that may benefit you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.226.36.81 (talk) 20:44, 31 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Details...Details...Details...[edit]

This section lacks details...It needs more than just its explanation.

This is the questions that needs to be answered and included in the main article:

What is its poetic form, poetic diction, meter and all the elements of poetry?

You should add this to the article because these details are important especially if you have to write an essay. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Triadwarfare (talkcontribs) 15:22, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alternative explanation[edit]

There's a conventional reading of this poem--basically, that choosing the less-traveled path will make all the difference--and then there's another reading that sees the conclusion of the poem as ironic, with Frost actually saying that our choices our largely random and meaningless and the sense of choice a story that we tell ourselves afterwards. A good explication of this second reading is given in Harper's Magazine, August 2000, "Death of the Hired Poem," by John Jeremiah Sullivan. I don't have access to the full text of the article, otherwise I'd put in a reference.

Nareek (talk) 12:04, 7 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks – I’ve added a reference.
Nbarth (email) (talk) 23:05, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Interpretations[edit]

The article should include:

  • both the popular interpretation as inspirational,
  • and the critical interpretation as ironic, and
  • label them as such.

My understanding of Wikipedia policy is that, as per WP:NOR, people should not write their own interpretations, nor, as per WP:NPOV, should we take a side in a critical debate, but instead we should describe differing interpretations, with citations (as per WP:V).

I’ve made a start of this in this revision, but this is a very famous poem, and the article could use considerable work.

Nbarth (email) (talk) 00:23, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The revision noted above made a change that put quotation marks around the phrase "Frost intended the poem as a gentle jab at his great friend and fellow poet Edward Thomas, and seemed amused at this certain interpretation of the poem as inspirational" which implied that this was a direct quote from the book Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered. As far as I can tell the book does not contain this text and so presumably the quotes were inadvertently placed. I've removed them and in the process reverted an additional, later change that had been made to the sentence. I also removed another later addition, sandwiched between the quote and the reference, that seemed tacked on; it's close to accurate but appears hastily written, with missing whitespace, a badly formatted excerpt from the poem, and grammar that needs a bit of improvement. I'm not sure an explanation like it is necessary. If so, it should either be modified, or not be inside this particular reference (the book states that Thomas "always castigated himself" about choosing a path, not "one day").
Ocvailes (talk) 02:57, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There seems to be a great desire for middle school pupils to put their own interpretations into this article. --jpgordon::==( o ) 00:22, 3 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Contradiction[edit]

This article contradicts itself by saying ", The poem admits two common interpretations," but in the last line of the first interpretation it is phrased: "He is saying he regrets the choice that he made," which is basically the introduction of the "second interpretation." I believe something should be changed for this, to eliminate the contradictory content. Since the second interpretation somewhat switches it's view halfway through, it should be fixed or refreshed literally, so as to remove confusion and contradictions. Rusober (talk) 00:18, 1 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that there is a contradiction, but I feel that the revision should be made on the first line of the literal interpretation. It states in the article that, "The literal interpretation of this poem believes it is about individualism and being your own person." yet it continues on to interpret the poem about regrets.

It is my understanding that the literal interpretation of the poem is about regretting choices made in the past that cannot be changed. The ironic interpretation of the poem is about the fruitlessness of regretting the choices that we have made. I'm not sure if this poem was ever intended (literal or ironic) to be inspirational, though that is my personal opinion/interpretation. Shu ster (talk) 15:06, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

mail time

I have great problems with the use of "literal" for one interpretation, which isn't even developed beyond some vague links to general terms. "Literal" seems to me to be claiming a truth based on the text that the text itself doesn't support. Perhaps a more accurate classification of interpretations would be "popular" and "critical." The poem has taken on a meaning in popular culture that isn't borne out by most close critical readings, so that seems like an accurate division.

--Lee1999 (talk) 18:44, 12 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Commutativity[edit]

It's a shame this poem is being debated in such an obvious manner. Nareek, seemed to be pretty close. Which makes sense based on their comments. There is much more to this poem than a simple issue of conformativity and really it is kind of insulting to even mention that topic in relation to it I think. Hippies and Anarchists should find some new meaningless literature to discuss instead of ruining a great piece that actually has a purpose.

Be gone mindless wikipedian social free thinkers. Your pseudo conclusive reasoning is not accepted in regards to this poem. In my opinion of course. But then again, I am on the World of Warcraft website which makes me pretty credible. I would only think. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rukaribe (talkcontribs) 05:20, 20 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interpretations[edit]

In Ihe Road Not Taken Frost uses metaphor to describe two choices as roads. Both road are almost equally the same, but one is taken too much and is wear out. That choice is the short and easy road. The other road is longer and difficult and is the one Frost will take. At then end he sighs for taking the longer road, however later saying by taking that road it made a difference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.4.249.41 (talk) 23:49, 2 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What suggestions do you have to improve the article? --jpgordon::==( o ) 05:35, 3 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Trivia[edit]

The poem is quoted in Down_by_Law_(film) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.53.45.125 (talk) 07:02, 19 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sigh? What sigh?[edit]

Forgive an ignorant philistine, but, and I've re-read it three times, the article talks at length about "the sigh"... but... what sigh??? Perhaps the article could be more clear?

86.25.170.118 (talk) 20:22, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move[edit]

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was moved. --BDD (talk) 16:12, 29 October 2012 (UTC) (non-admin closure)[reply]

The Road Not Taken (poem)The Road Not Taken – This was moved in February 2009 without discussion. This is one of Frost's most famous poems so it should not be ambiguous. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 08:16, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support. I wondered why it was not at that title already. ---The Old JacobiteThe '45 12:37, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. If you google "The Road Not Taken" -wikipedia, the top eight results refer to the Frost poem. The No. 2 topic is not any of the things listed on the DAB, but rather a recent episode of the TV show Touch. Kauffner (talk) 17:09, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Well known as a poem. Apteva (talk) 03:25, 23 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose – that title is taken, by a disambig page, since the term is ambiguous. Dicklyon (talk) 03:55, 23 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Grey Gardens[edit]

It should be mentioned somewhere, like maybe in a "references in popular culture" or something similar, that the poem was mentioned in the documentary Grey Gardens Edith Bouvier Beale recites the poem, incorrectly, but does recite it best to her knowledge. --Matt723star (talk) 14:11, 15 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Full text[edit]

Per WP:NOFULLTEXT, the full text of the poem should not be included here. No good reason has been offered for why this rule should be violated. The link to Wikisource is more than adequate for those who want to read the full poem. ---The Old JacobiteThe '45 02:30, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I've protected the page. LeoRomero, do not mess with other people's comments. --jpgordon::==( o ) 01:41, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
jpgordon, please mind your tone and don't presume you comprehend my motives. I did not "mess" with comments. I rearranged Talk under the incorrect but well-intentioned notion that it will make things easier. No need to SHOUT.
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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Well...this hinges on the interpretation of "short". The example in WP:NOFULLTEXT, Ozymandias, is short enough to comfortably fit in a nice box. Does this work well aesthetically for this poem? I've put it in a box here; given how scant the article is (and the analysis section needs some proper cites real soon or will be tossed out as original research, making the article pretty much just the intro), it seems oversize; the Wikisource link is quite clickable. Regardless, the crap stuck in the article in this and similar edits is not tolerated under any circumstances. --jpgordon::==( o ) 01:44, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm with Jpgordon, completely, particularly on the "crap" thing. Yes, one of them boxes would do nicely--in my opinion (sorry Jacobite) it's short enough to be included, and besides, it is one of the best-known and boringest poems in US lit, so its text is certainly not redundant. Drmies (talk) 02:23, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Drmies - I don't know what "crap" (language!) you guys are talking about, and I question your understanding of this poem, but do appreciate the sound advice from you and jpgordon. So are we okay with full text then? I prefer unboxed, like this other poem by Frost, Mending Wall. There so many wikis with long poems like this one, Porphyria's Lover, why yawl gotta pick on the one poem I use to illustrate how poems are so easily misunderstood? - Thanks; LeoRomero (talk) 03:42, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Nobody is "picking on you". You did the "B" part in WP:BRD just fine; when you met resistance, though, rather than discussing, you kept trying to get your way on the article page. Whether you are right or wrong about the content, your approach of edit warring, and then sticking crap in the main article, along with personal attacks in the edit summaries, wasn't helpful. I explained on your user talk page what I meant by "crap". --jpgordon::==( o ) 04:38, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I see what you mean, thanks jpgordon. Re "crap", concur; should note though that back in the day (2006?) that was ok. Been so busy at work, can only do my Wikipedia duties while on vac. I like the new rules better. LeoRomero (talk) 20:15, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I still argue that the full text does not belong in the article, especially when it is very easy to click on the Wikisource link and see it. In addition, the full text can already be seen, again with a simple click, in the picture included at the top of the page. Why do we need the repetition? ---The Old JacobiteThe '45 14:42, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
OK, that's one argument against having it there. I think it's marginally unaesthetic, but consistent with policy and somewhat consistent with practice to have it, set off preferably by the box. --jpgordon::==( o ) 15:29, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Great, thanks TheOldJacobite, jpgordon, Drmies - I'll put the poem in a box shortly. LeoRomero (talk) 20:15, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry TheOldJacobite, I could have handled our disagreement much better.

Analysis[edit]

Seems to me it's about time for the "analysis" section to go. It still feels like mostly original research. --jpgordon::==( o ) 16:06, 25 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Jpgordon, you just removed the entire section, except for a couple of references at the end? Seems to me that it's uncalled for to ignore what I think is a whole lot of people assuming that the poem is talking about individuality. I've adjusted your edit a little to make it clearer that these suggestions are just suggestions, not facts. But it still needs a clearer reference to what the Christina Sterbenz reference calls the most common misunderstanding. The wikipedia reader is entitled to know about the _standard_ interpretation of the poem; it isn't right to hide it.MikeR613 (talk) 16:01, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Then find a reliable source or three providing such interpretations, rather than what mostly seems to be people inserting something they heard in English class. --jpgordon::==( o ) 19:15, 3 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

what is the link to Meta in the lead?[edit]

in the lead, why is "like the road fork itself" linked to the article Meta with zero comment about why? it should be explained or deleted. 98.7.201.234 (talk) 05:39, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Because an editor thought they were being clever about a year ago. Thanks for pointing it out; we discourage fortune cookies like that. --jpgordon𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇 15:25, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

How many editions / which one is used in article[edit]

There seems to be at least two editions of this poem, as described in the article. It's not clear which version Wikipedia uses, and it could actually be a non-official one for all I know.

Both versions seem to be the same, I guess they have the same source (Mountain Interval?).

Uses "marked" instead of "kept".

Wikipedia version, some differences from the Poetry Foundation version as of 2021-06-21:

  • adds a comma after "in leaves"
  • removes one "as"

It should be made clearer which edition is / should be used, and fix the current text if that's not a proper edition. Caylane (talk) 13:59, 6 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Leiden photo[edit]

Regarding this edit - it's not a misquote, is it? And even if it were, that hardly seems to me a reason to remove this image... W. P. Uzer (talk) 14:19, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, it might be better if the picture included all three last lines. So I've undone my removal. Still, I don't really think the picture belongs. --jpgordon𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇 14:39, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

TITLE USE[edit]

Harry Turtledove has a well known science fiction short story using the title and making a deliberate allusion to the Frost poem in his plot. Should there perhaps be a note in the article citing this, or a disambiguation? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:7000:6A00:32DA:4D0E:1BD6:95C4:CD92 (talk) 17:36, 18 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

gracie[edit]

i have bine panic attacks 2603:6011:E640:14:DF3F:E98D:DCB7:9D9E (talk) 01:01, 21 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]