For fear it would make me conservative when old.
“The Road Not Taken” is self-reflective poem, one that reflects upon the speaker’s choices in his life, choices that take him down the road less traveled. Like the quote by Frost above, the speaker is aware that choices made while young impact the person we are when old. While the speaker is aware of the fact that this choice will necessarily limit other choices he could make, other experiences he might have and will form the self he will become, he nonetheless projects that it is a route that he will think one day made all the difference. “The Road Not Taken” encompasses both the microcosm and macrocosm of human existence and experience. The literal scene and situation is a traveler in a “yellow wood” who comes upon “two roads diverged.” The speaker views each of the paths and decides that each is “just as fair” and “the passing there/Had worn them really about the same.” The speaker decides to keep one path for another day, though “knowing how way leads on to way/…doubted if…[he]…should ever come back.” One day the speaker will tell the story with a “sigh” as he recalls taking the road “less traveled by” which “has made all the difference.”
Of course, the two roads are symbols in this poem. They symbolize the different choices and paths we might take in our own lives. The speaker has taken the one that is the less traveled and that has made all the difference in his life. However, we can only speculate if this choice means the speaker chose a lover, a hobby or a career (Frost took the career road less traveled by becoming a poet) or one or none of these. Yet, the symbols are meant to go deeper. They are meant to symbolize how every choice we make in life necessarily precludes us making a different choice, a main tenet of existentialism. No matter even if the “less traveled” choice makes “all the difference” in ...