The poem “The Road Not Taken” is about the one thing that every living human
being will and does encounter, multiple times through out life, it is the
miracle of being able to choose. With that choice we must also face the fact
that we can never go back and explore the other road not taken. Some choices are
easier to choose while other takes some contemplating and time to resolve. But
when it is all said and done and we have made our choice, there is still the
road we didn’t choose and often times we wonder about the road not taken. In
the first stanza is a place where two roads diverged which represents the
encounter of having to choose from two paths a direction that will dictate the
rest of ones life. When faced with decisions, man has to weigh his options
carefully to make a more efficient choice. At the split in the road, the speaker
looks down both of the paths to see what each of the paths will bring. The
speaker’s sight is limited; his eyes can only see the path until it bends into
“the undergrowth”. This is symbolic of people trying to foresee what each
choice might bring, but our presage is limited, thus the representation of the
undergrowth. But all that is seen is that both diverge into a "yellow
wood" and appear to be "about the same". The first of the two
paths is the more common route whereas the other less traveled path,
"wanted wear." In this Frost brings up the conflict of whether to take
the more easy way, the path more commonly traveled, or the way that is more
complicated and not as easy to foresee the destination in which is the road less
traveled. Choosing the already known easy path in which many people choose
reassures that the outcome will be predictable. While choosing the "less
traveled" road represents the chance of facing a more difficult path in
life in hopes to achieve a more satisfactory life. The choice is made after much
contemplation, and the choice is to take the road less traveled. As he is going
down that road he has chosen, he still wonders and longs to travel the road not
taken. Even when he says to himself in the third stanza that he will keep the
first path for another day, he knows that he will not have the opportunity to
come back, because “way leads on to way.” We are shown in this poem that we
are limited to explore all of life’s different possibilities. As in “In
Hardwood Groves” we see that the only possibility for the leaves to return is
to decay into the ground yet if they could choose and would choose not to decay
then they would not be able to return. We see in the end of “The Road not
Taken” there is a sigh, a sigh that has come from years later looking back and
remember the two choices and choosing the harder one and that making all of the
difference in the life lead. Frost shows his satisfaction for enduring the
uncommon route, but at the same time he "sighs" with lamentation,
wondering what he may have missed on the other road. As successful life’s
turnouts may be, there is always regret wondering how another path taken in life
brings about other experiences and other opportunities in life. At the end of
the poem “Riders” frost says, “We have ideas yet that we haven’t
tried.” Sometimes we will never be able to try them and that is the road not
taken. The poem “The Road Not Taken” can be interpreted as the universal
dilemma of encountering two similar choices. In the beginning when we look at
them they appear to be similar but as time progresses and we go deeper and
deeper down the path we see that they begin to contrast each other as they go
off on their separate ways. Faced with very similar choices we try to examine
what they have to offer for us, but often we are unable to see the results. We
can choose to go the common route, which is the more reliable, and have a common
life or we can pursue the less common route, which is unknown and often
difficult, and have a unique life that stands out above else. The choices we
make in our life are ultimately responsible for our future, yet at the same time
we can never go back to the past and experience other possibilities. In the end,
we reflect over the decisions we have made, and like Frost at the end of this
poem, sigh, discovering they have made "all the difference”.