The poem is about choices. "Two roads diverge in a yellow
wood"--the speaker has to make a choice between two paths that seem to be equal. He
tells us three times in the poem that the paths are about the same. In the last stanza
of the poem,though, he claims that he will be recounting his choice "with a sigh." We
don't know if this is a sigh of contentment or regret. Then he claims that he took the
road "less traveled by." This claim is only in retrospect. At the time of the choice,
the two roads seemed to be the same.
He claims that his
choice made "all the difference." Yet, he does not tell us what this difference is. We
don't know if the difference is positive or negative. Most likely, the speaker does not
know either. All the speaker knows is that this choice led to others. Because he
cannot live in an alternate universe, he only knows that the path he took made some kind
of difference in his life.
Perhaps in an attempt to make
meaning of his choice, he can claim "ages and ages hence" that he took the road "less
travelled by," but this is probably fantasy, an attempt to rationalize the choice he did
make.
This poem appeals to many, but most likely for the
wrong reasons. Many people read this poem as a affirmation of individualism and not
following conventional choices. However, even Frost himself called this poem a "tricky"
poem. The poem does express a universal truth that even the small choices in our life
can make a difference.
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