This week, we have…

• Calling all content creators!

• A fun fact inspired by Chronogram

• Answers to last week's games

• Reader survey

Robert Frost’s road not taken (too literally)

One of the most famous and often-quoted poems, The Road Not Taken, has a line that reads “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”. The author, Robert Frost (Chronogram answer #670), wrote the poem in 1915 as a joke for a friend, fellow poet Edward Thomas. Thomas was apparently indecisive about which route to take when the two would go for walks together, and would often lament about choosing the wrong one. Though written in jest, when the poem reached audiences, it was taken as a serious meditation on choice, and has become ubiquitous in American culture. People refer to ‘the road not taken’ when talking about relationship decisions and career choices, and the phrase has appeared in thousands of news stories, hundreds of books, as well as songs, TV episodes, and commercials. It is likely one of the most popular poems of twentieth century America, although the popularity of a poem is hard to measure.

Ironically, for something so popular, the common interpretation of the poem is almost completely opposite to what the author actually meant. Many ascribe the main message of the poem to be the importance of self-assertion (“I took the one less traveled by”), but the poet writes that the two roads are actually virtually identical, and completely interchangeable - he says “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.” If anything, it is actually the road equally travelled by, and it has not made any difference at all. The only difference it makes is in hindsight, when the traveller looks back at the decisions she has made and seeks comfort that her current situation is the result of choices she made earlier. The poem seems to be saying that it’s not about what you choose, but how you construct the narrative about your choices later on.

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way to interpret a poem, and one of the greatest features of art is your ability to see yourself in it and take what you want from it. The poem seems to have taken on a life of its own in its immense popularity, as a celebration of independence and individualism. Whichever road you take - the difference it makes is up to you!

Learn more: Poetry Foundation, The Paris Review, Poetry Foundation (2)

Trivia

Answers to last week's games

Monday, January 27 to Sunday, February 2.

Linxicon

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

• #350 bunch → amount → money → safety

• #351 cooking → meal → portion → percentage

• #352 open → expanded → enhance

• #353 concrete → metal → music → sing

• #354 second → position → announce → communicate

• #355 earn → amount → length

• #356 several → multiple → quartet → music → rhythm

• #357 Play now!

Elemingle

• #5 Xenon

  #6 Selenium

  #7 Thulium

  #8 Antimony

  #9 Molybdenum

  #10 Plutonium

  #11 Tennessine

• #12 Play now!

Forgeous

Play Forgeous for Feb 3