Background Information
The poem has been written by an American poet, Robert Frost, who had settled in England to strengthen his poetic occupation. He made friends with Edward Thomas and he learnt many valuable experiences the English poet. After attaining and adopting maturity in his literary work, that maturity was shown in his major works including A Boy's Will and North of Boston. The former book so much attraction that made the writer think of going back to the United States. He wrote the very poem in 1915 and it was published in 1916 as the first poem in Mountain Intervals. Robert Frost wrote this poem for his friend, Thomas, to make him decide his path for the future. Edward Thomas was desirous for doing something courageous for his kingdom in Great War 1st. Robert Frost encouraged Thomas to devote his life for the patriotic cause:
I doubted if I should ever come back
Robert Frost sent his friend an early copy of this poem; his friend took this poem seriously and decided to take part in the battlefield and Thomas died after two years he received the poem.
Situation
The poem takes place on a road which "diverges" into the two. One road is quite famous among the passengers and is taken by storm (is popular). While the other road is travelled less. The leaves are not trampled by the travellers. The poet takes the road "less travelled by" to continue his journey. The poet tells with a sigh that an immense amount of time has surpassed. His choice of choosing a different road has "made all the difference".
Symbolism
The poem, apparently, may seem like a simple journey in the yellow woods but Frost's poems are well known for their symbolic meaning. This poem also holds the layered meaning of decision making. We come across many situations where we are given to choose one opportunity out of the two. It is on us that what we select. But it is an integral part of our nature that we still ponder about the alternative road, no matter how successful our journey was on the road we had chosen.
Structure of the Poem
The poem consists of the four quintets (for the folks who don't know what a quintet is then sharpen your neurons because IT IS A 5 LINE STANZA). The first line in a quintet rhymes with the third and fourth line and second line creates a rhyming sound with the fifth line, forming a rhyme scheme of abaab. The rhythmic pattern of this composition is iambic tetra-metre.
Images
In this poem, Frost has used a few images to describe the view of the roads. Divergence of the road into the two, yellow wood, traveller, grassy road, morning, sunshine and trodden black leaves are some images used in this verse.
