It is a region of isolated farms and lonely roads, and it is in writing about that landscape that Frost merges the traditional with the modern to become a writer who is simultaneously terrifying and comfortable. The wonderful title evokes the rural hinterland of New England, away from the Boston society and economy. In North of Boston, Frost establishes himself as a close and careful observer of man in the natural world. 1915 became the year in which he became recognized as America’s quintessential poet in August, the Atlantic Monthly published what is perhaps Frost’s most well-known work, “The Road Not Taken.” What mattered to Frost was that his English trip had worked. The years in England were crucial to Frost, but they have also caused confusion in straightening out his publishing history – the books appeared in reverse order in America and the poems that appeared in the magazines had in fact already appeared in print, albeit in England. Frost’s career was as well-launched as he could have hoped, and when he returned to the United States in early 1915, he had an American publisher and a dawning fame as his work appeared before the general public in journals like The New Republic and The Atlantic Monthly. While reviews of the first book, A Boy’s Will, were generally favorable, but mixed, when it was published in 1913, North of Boston was immediately recognized as the work of a major poet. ![]() Frost had gone to England to add further polish to his writing skills and to make valuable contacts with the leading figures in Anglo-American literature, especially English writer Edward Thomas and expatriate American Ezra Pound Pound would be a crucial early supporter of Frost. Frost was very careful about how he managed the start of his career, wanting to make the strongest debut possible, and he diligently assembled the strongest lineup of poems possible for his books A Boy’s Will and North of Boston. What can ultimately guarantee our ultimate success in life is our everlasting commitment to the journey we travel.It’s a small irony in the career of Robert Frost that this most New England of poets published his first two books of poetry during the short period when he was living in Old England. We need to remember the ever-changing nature of reference points as we go through life, and the fact that each decision comes with a sacrificial element no matter which way we choose. It can provide insight into the psychological elements underlying indecision and regret further fueled by the individual’s fear of loss coming from making the supposedly wrong choice. The fork in the road is the metaphor for life’s difficult decisions and crisis points, communicating the message that there is no sure way to recognize which road is truly the less traveled one from the present viewpoint. Frost later quoted him as “a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn’t go the other” Robert observed that Thomas was often indecisive and obsessed over not choosing a different route if the walk did not include interesting sightings, regarding it as a failure. ![]() ![]() The original narrative was about his very close friend Edward Thomas with whom he used to go for long random walks in the woods where they frequently had to choose one path over the other when they faced a fork in the road. However, Frost stated that the poem was very tricky and prone to be misunderstood due to the ambiguity he created. It is often misinterpreted as a celebration of one’s individuality when faced with life’s many choices and taking “the road less traveled by.” ![]() “ The Road Not Taken” is a classic poem written by Robert Frost and published in 1916 in his collection Mountain Interval.
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