"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

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.

This poem is generally talking about the choices in life. However, it is not talking about the choices we make, but instead, is wondering about the choices we did not make. As the title implies, this poem is about the road not taken, instead of the road taken. It is not emphasizing on the choices we make, but is instead wondering about what could have happened if we had chosen a different path.

The first stanza is mainly used to describe the setting, that the narrator has a choice of two paths and has to choose one. The writer is "sorry I(he) could not travel both" for he is afraid he would make the wrong choice. Indecision causes him to waste away time as he tries to look down a path as far as he could to find out if it is the better path. 

In the second stanza, he decides that both paths are similar with the line "had worn them really about the same". He hopes he has made the better choice with the line "And having perhaps the better claim". 

In the third stanza, the theme of the poem, that is, the fear of regret, becomes clearer when the narrator mentions how he wishes he could take both paths so that he would not make the wrong decision, but he also says that it is unlikely he would be able to make the choice again, just like in life, when we make a great decision, it is unlikely to happen again. If we have to chose between two universities and choose university A, we would be unlikely to have the chance to choose university B. The negative term of "doubted" also emphasizes on his regret.

The final stanza is written in the future tense, unlike the first three stanzas which were in past tense. This is meant to tell the reader that the narrator is actually back where he started and all that he says in the fourth stanza has not happened. This can be told from the fourth stanza's first line "I shall be telling this with a sigh". The repetition of "two roads diverged in a wood" in the fourth stanza and "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" further emphasizes that. This is meant to tell the reader that the narrator has wasted a long time in indecision and thus, has not progressed. The last two lines of the fourth stanza usually causes people to think of the theme of this poem as non-conformity and choosing "the one less traveled by". However, coupled with earlier evidences and the fact that the writer saw no difference in the path, as mentioned in the second stanza, we can tell that non-conformity is not the theme and instead, it is the fear of regret. He mentions "the one less traveled by" in an attempt to boost his confidence so that he will not regret his choice. "And that has made all the difference" is talking about how by choosing a path, he has progressed whereas when he wasted his time in indecision, he did not. The poet is telling us that all choices make a difference and we should be more confident when faced with choices instead of wasting time on indecision, as it is much worse.

This poem has made a deep impact on me because I feel that it has taught me that it is better to make a choice than none. A choice may not be the right one but at least we progress and learn from it. If we had not made a choice at all, we would not even get any experience. This applies greatly to our daily lives as there are many times in which we have to make a choice between two options, and sometimes it is hard to decide as both choices are equally good. We may waste our time using all sorts of methods trying to decide which is better, but in the end, we end up wasting time and making the same choice as we would have without making all that fuss anyway. Of course, this does not mean that faced with a choice, we should quickly pick one without thinking through carefully. We should think about the pros and cons but we should not dwell on them and use more time than necessary. Instead, we should follow our instinct and choose what we know is the best for us, without being influenced by external factors, such as friends, and choose that option. People may also hesitate before choosing a path because each require a certain sacrifice. They would not want to sacrifice anything and end up in indecision. What we should do is instead, think about our objectives in life and rank what is more important, what we want to achieve, and choose the choice that is right for us, reminding ourselves that we have chosen the right choice to boost our confidence, which is exactly what the narrator is doing in the poem.