The Road Not Taken is a poem by Robert Frost.
Short Summary
The poet stands in the woods, considering a fork in the road. Both ways are equally worn and equally overlaid with untrodden leaves. The speaker chooses one, telling himself that he will take the other on some another day. Yet he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to do so. And he admits that someday in the future, he will recreate the scene with a slight twist. He will claim that he took the less-traveled road.
Summary
It was autumn. The leaves of trees had turned yellow. The poet was passing through a forest. He reached a junction. Two roads diverged in two different directions. He regretted that he could not travel on both roads. He stood there for a long time. He looked down one road as far as he could see. He could see it up to a point where it turned to the undergrowth and disappeared.
The poet took the other road. It was just as fair as the first one. Moreover, it had a better claim to be walked upon. It was grassy and wanted wear. Fewer travelers had walked upon it. However, as far as passing was concerned, both the roads had been worn equally.
That morning, both the roads lay equally covered with yellow leaves which had not been trodden much by the travelers. The poet kept the first road for another day knowing well how one way leads on to another. He doubted whether he would ever come back to walk on the other road.
The poet feels that ages from now he would be telling others with a sigh about the choice he made. Two roads diverged in a forest and he took the one which had been traveled less by the people. And that had made all the difference in his life.