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Lyric Poem · Life

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost · 1916

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.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
The Road Not Taken
Poet
Robert Frost
Published
1916
Length
20 lines
Form
Lyric Poem, Narrative Poem
Themes
Life, Inspirational

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
20 lines · 4 quintains
Line length
Mostly 9-syllable lines.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Robert Frost1874–1963
Source record
WikisourceThe Road Not Taken by robert-frost, Wikisource transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
1916
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 e8b3a33ffaa632ea
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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