The Road Not Taken, a poem by Robert Frost, is related to the tough situation of making decisions throughout life. Specifically, one's decision in a critical situation could turn out to be a complete success or ultimate failure. Decision-making is a part of life but human beings find it difficult to make tough decisions. In the end they are forced to and some may look back on those decisions and feel regret. This causes tension in one's future because that feeling of regret relates to a failure, which cannot be changed (Cummings). In this poem, the speaker faces this same problem that has been faced by many human beings for a long time. Many parts of the poem like the title, content, symbolism and metrical devices help to support the poem's overall meaning.
As stated earlier, the overall theme of the poem is about making choices in one's life, or decision-making.
The speaker of the poem has trouble deciding on what path to take, but decides on the less worn out path. This symbolizes that the speaker chose his own path of life and decided not to follow the path chosen by many others. In the end Frost says, "I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference". What he is saying in that line is one should have the courage to take risks in one's life and explore new possibilities. But, it also is written in past tense which means the speaker is looking back at his decision. Whether he may regret his decision is not clear because he says, " I shall be telling this with a sigh". The word sigh gives the reader a sense of disappointment in the speaker, but could also mean a...