The Road Not Taken Setting

Where It All Goes Down

Our setting is in a forest, but it's not "lovely dark and deep" like the woods in one of Frost's other famous poems, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Instead, these woods are just yellow, and our speaker is not, like in the other poem, in a horse drawn cart, but on foot.

It's fall in this poem – the trees are turning colors, and the leaves are falling. It's probably quite pretty out, with the crisp smell of autumn in the air. There's a nice little road, probably gravel or dirt, running through the woods, which suggests that there's a good amount of traffic running through here. But it's early enough in the morning that the fallen leaves are still fresh on the road, and one road is even grassy. Neither road shows much sign of wear.

So here our speaker is, in the fall without a map or a worn path to lead him on his way. He studies the paths, but more to try and choose which one to take than to appreciate their beauty.

Overall, this setting would be a pretty nice place to be, looking at the colors, choosing our path as we went, and walking in the fresh air all day.