How is one of the most popular poems ever written misinterpreted, and what is the poem’s true message about human thinking?
Subject: Narrative Fallacy - “The Road Not Taken”
Event: The article “The Most Misread Poem in America” is published in The Paris Review, 2011.
Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love. -Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
When you look back, 20 years from now, at a decision you made this year, will you remember why you made that decision? Will you honestly assess the factors that you took into consideration and the actual consequences of your decision? Will you be tempted to spin the details of your past to make yourself look better than you truly are?
These are the questions that are presented by one of the most famous poems ever written, Robert Frost's “The Road Not Taken.” The strange thing, however, is that many readers of this poem -- along with many who have never read it at all -- believe that it is a poem about individualism, about determination, and about confidently forging your own path in the world. This common misconception about the poem can be seen by asking someone to identify its title; instead of its actual title -- “The Road Not Taken” -- many will identify it as “The Road Less Travelled.”
On September 11, 2015, writer David Orr published an article in The Paris Review called, “The Most Misread Poem in America,” where he contrasts the common misconceptions about the poem versus its more accurate interpretation. As Orr puts it, “The poem isn’t a salute to can-do individualism; it’s a commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of our own lives” (1).
Before you decide whether or not you agree with Orr, read the poem carefully for yourself:
The Road Not Taken
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.
Clearly, this seems to be the simple account of one person’s walk in the woods. Notice the details in the second and third stanzas concerning the two paths. The narrator tells us that there really is no significant difference between the paths and that they are both “about the same.” The poem’s last stanza, however, presents differences. Years have passed, and the speaker is now looking back at his choice of paths. He now spins his story, telling us that the paths were not the same; the one he took was not only the “one less traveled by,” but it was also an important choice that had important consequences for his life because it was a choice that “made all the difference.”
Frost’s poem is a parable about the narrative fallacy, the human tendency toward self-deception via the weaving of fictional autobiography. In other words, we often look at our past not as it was but as we would like it to be. We weave a tale that makes us feel good about what happened and how what happened contributed to where we have arrived in the present. The most interesting aspect of the narrative fallacy is that we aren’t even consciously aware of the differences between the facts and the fiction. Humans are great storytellers, and the truth or forgotten details are seldom an obstacle. Instead, we confabulate: we tell ourselves a tale, creating a plausible narrative to explain what happened.
The genius of Frost’s parable is that the poem’s narrator seems to be conscious of his own tendency toward self-deception. He says “I shall be telling this with a sigh”; he can imagine himself in the future, (“Somewhere, ages to ages hence”) confabulating his story, transforming it from a meandering walk in the woods, to a dramatic Rubicon of decisive action.
Another great work of American literature that features the narrative fallacy is Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. While most of us are guilty of the narrative fallacy in moderation, Willy Loman, the salesman in Miller’s play, has gone to the extreme. His whole life has been about selling himself to others, and the tragedy comes at the end of his life when he is unable to separate the fiction of his life from the facts. Willy has told so many lies and told them for so long that his whole life has become a false dream that he cannot wake up from. It’s a false dream that has engulfed not only himself but also his family.
Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: What are two possible interpretations of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” and how do these interpretations help us understand and avoid the Narrative Fallacy? (illusion of choice)?
Challenge: Fictional But True: We don’t know exactly who the speaker is in Robert Frost’s poem; nevertheless, whoever this character is, he or she gives us clear insight into human thinking. Identify another character from literature or a voice from a great poem that gives us the same kind of insight. Who is the character/voice? In what work does he or she appear, and what is the insight we can gain about human thinking?
Also On This Day:
September 11, 1297: The Scottish defeated the English in The Battle of Stirling Bridge. Heavily outnumbered by English infantry and cavalry, the Scottish army led by William Wallace and Andrew de Moray nevertheless won the battle. In the film Braveheart (1995), William Wallace, portrayed by Mel Gibson, gives a rousing speech to the Scottish troops. With the odds clearly against them, the Scottish troops are at first reluctant to fight. After listening to Wallace’s succinct, clear, and forceful speech, however, they storm into battle:
Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least a while. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!
Although the film is based on actual historical events surrounding the battle, the speech itself is fictional (2).
Sources:
1-Orr, David. “The Most Misread Poem in America.” The Paris Review 11 September 2015.
2-Hickman, Kennedy. “Scottish Independence: Battle of Stirling Bridge.” Thoughtco.com 22 March, 2018.
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