Robert Frost

I don't have a great deal of knowledge of American poets as my schooling was very much based on the British tradition, but no one could miss the significance of Robert Frost.  Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening:

               The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
               But I have promises to keep,
               And miles to go before I sleep,
                And miles to go before I sleep. 

and The Road Less Travelled are true classics.

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 traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 



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