Wednesday, September 13, 2017

What does “because it was grassy and wanted wear” mean?

This line describes the lesser-trodden of the two paths between which the speaker of Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" must choose when he reaches a fork in the woods. Specifically, the speaker says that this road might possibly have "the better claim" of the two because "it was grassy and wanted wear." Literally, he is saying that although the two roads looked, for the most part, very similar, what drove him to choose this one over the other was the fact that it was grassier and seemingly had not been used quite as much as the other one. If we say something "wanted wear," we mean it looks as if it hasn't been used enough—this is a colloquialism which really means that something looks as if it could do with being put to some more use. Frost connects these two concepts: if the path had been used more frequently, it would not have been so grassy, because the grass would have been worn down through the passage of people, making it muddier and more compacted with their feet.


Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" describes a man walking in the woods in autumn when he comes to a place where the path splits. He must choose which branch of the path to follow, and he stands for a moment considering his options. After looking down both paths as far as he can see, he decides that, of the two branches, one has

perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear[.]


The grass on this path is longer and the path itself is less worn into the soil of the woods, indicating fewer people walk this way. The man admits that the difference between the paths is small:



[...] 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.


Still, he has to make a decision in order to continue walking, so having no other criteria by which to judge his two options, he takes "the [path] less traveled by."

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