The “yellow wood” in Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” provides details about its setting and tone. The setting for a number of Frost’s poems, including this one, is the state of New Hampshire. During the New England autumn, the leaves on the trees turn colors, including yellow. In this poem, the “yellow wood” speaks to the time of year and the type of day it is. The traveler comes upon the divergence in the path on an autumn morning when the golden sun is shining through the leaves. Some of the autumn leaves fell off the trees onto the paths below, which speaks to the movement of time.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
The color yellow is associated with thoughtfulness and intellect. The traveler’s decision weighs heavily upon him; he thinks deeply about which path to take.
Autumn symbolizes the passage of time as the year moves into its barren seasons. Although the traveler says he will keep the unclaimed path for another day, he seems to know he will not be back, and he will look upon the scene retrospectively. Those symbolic “yellow woods” will return to him in the autumn of his life—his golden years.
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