THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED?
Robert Frost did not write:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
This is what most people remember and, thereby, logically interpret to mean that one should "take the road less travelled."
What he wrote was:
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 traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
Meaning, to me: There were two paths that were, for all intents and purposes, identical. I took one. In the future I will claim that, bravely and wisely, I chose the correct path.
See how context matters?
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