The October issue of the bookcase features a special on autumn, introducing a renowned poem by American poet Robert Frost titled "The Road Not Taken." Reading the translated poem alongside the original text allows us to feel a universal emotion that transcends countries and languages. Everyone experiences moments of choice in life, and it is natural to have lingering regrets or unfulfilled desires about the paths not taken. This may be why so many people remember and often reflect on this poem.

Editor Minjeong Son

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost / Translated by Hye-sook Son

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.

Robert Frost (1874–1963)

An American poet born in California. He lived on a farm in the northeastern United States until the age of ten, after which he moved to England to participate in a new poetic movement. He gained fame as a charismatic reciter of poetry and is considered one of the most pure and classical poets among modern American poets, drawing on his experiences of farm life to celebrate simple farmers and nature. He was a laureate poet of the United States, reciting his own poem at the inauguration of President J.F. Kennedy, and he won the Pulitzer Prize four times. (Source: Naver Encyclopedia, Doosan Encyclopedia)

"The Road Not Taken" (Changbi, translated by Hye-sook Son / 2014)

This is a representative anthology of American poetry from the "Changbi World Literature" series. It includes selected works from 15 prominent poets such as Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, and Sylvia Plath, showcasing the development and trends of American poetry across different eras and movements. To facilitate understanding of the individual texts, the anthology provides basic background knowledge, annotations for specific terms and expressions, and notes on points that require careful interpretation. It also includes brief biographical facts and literary evaluations of the poets. (From Aladin book introduction)