“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less tra…”

Literature Poetry

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

— Robert Frost, 1916

Verification

Verified

Wording confirmed against a primary source.

Matches the Poetry Foundation text of the poem.

Source

Title: The Road Not Taken (Mountain Interval)
Type: poem · Primary source
Date: 1916
Location: Final stanza
Held by: Poetry Foundation

View source at Poetry Foundation

Context

First published in 1915 and collected in Mountain Interval (1916).

What it means

Often read as praise for nonconformity, though the poem says both roads were "really about the same" — an ironic reflection on how we tell our life stories.

Cite this source

Frost, Robert. (1916). The Road Not Taken (Mountain Interval). Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken

Check citations against your institution's style guide; some details may be missing.

Provenance: Manually entered from the Poetry Foundation.