where the other path would have led.

Although the speaker struggles with his decision, he acknowledges that the roads are "really about the same," and thus it becomes clear that the decision is actually trivial. The speaker imagines that in the future he will look back at this choice, comfortable in the knowledge that he has taken the road "less traveled by." But the speaker's own observations undermine such a conclusion.

The answer to this question is subjective; it is asking for the personal opinion of each reader. Most people give this poem high praise for its ability to show universal truths about choice, benefits, and consequences. I can do that for this poem, but I would like to go a different direction.

Personally, I think this poem is overrated. Frost even thought so himself. He wrote it as a joke to tease his friend Edward Thomas. Thomas was also a poet, and the two men liked to take walks together. Thomas was perpetually indecisive about which road to take at a fork, and he would always say afterward that they should have taken the other road. Frost wrote the poem in response to this as a way of teasing Thomas. Thomas didn't get the joke, and Thomas praised the poem quite highly. It took Frost a series of letters to explain that the poem was never meant to be taken as seriously as Thomas and other critics were taking it. Also, I'm a natural pessimist; therefore, I've never read this poem with a positive outlook. The final stanza tells readers that the narrator took the road less traveled, and that made all the difference. The poem doesn't say that it made a good difference. His choice could have ruined his life or led to some catastrophe. Many readers seem to think that this idea of going his own way to buck the popular choice was a good thing, but I tend to disagree. There is probably a reason why one road is more traveled than the other.

This poem, which beautifully exemplifies all of our doubts and concerns about the choices we have made, and the speculation about where our life might have gone had we made other choices, is at the same time a portrait of New England rural living, the physical basis of all of Frost’s poetic works. The subtle mention of "the yellow wood" gives the reader a hint at the season, like a Haiku poem, and the final line -- "and that made all the difference" -- gives a melancholy, end-of life mood to the piece. While in today’s post-modern world the poem’s simple rhyme scheme and gentle cadence may seem simplistic, even naïve, the power of the imagery is still enhanced by the craft Frost has applied to this simple work. It is a philosophic reminder of the age-old universal admonishment: “Regret for the past is a waste of spirit.”  My "opinion" of the piece is that it is a little gem in the gaudy brooch of American poetry.

I don't believe the poet intended to write an essay about choices but was only thinking about one specific choice of his own which he made a long time ago. I believe he must have been thinking about a very important choice and that it was a career choice. Robert Frost knew he had poetic talent and that he wanted to devote his life to writing poetry. However, he also knew that it is so difficult to make a living writing poetry that it is nearly impossible. Shakespeare himself couldn't do it. He had to get into show biz, and he always felt a little ashamed of the way he made his money. Any kind of creative work is risky. Even if a person has one success, that means nothing. He could still find it hard to make a living for an entire lifetime. And what if his inspiration deserts him? A man who wants to get married and have children is not only risking his own welfare but those of the people he gets involved with. He will find that he has to choose between art and money, or else become a hack, like so many others. Many creative people think they can compromise. They think they will get some kind of tolerable job and then devote as much of their free time as possible to their creative work. It is very difficult. It is like trying to travel down two roads at once. Frost was a hard-headed Yankee. He decided to live a spartan life, not unlike that advocated by Henry David Thoreau in Walden, and devote his full time to his poetry. Eventually Frost became famous, but it took him a long time, and he seems to be wondering in "The Road Not Taken" whether it was worth it. He may have won the battle. He was recognized as America's leading poet. But that doesn't mean what he did would be right for everybody!

In the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, the roads symbolize choice, while the "yellow wood" could refer to a concept like "life." According to this interpretation, the poet is therefore suggesting that life often contains a choice of paths to take.

These choices often create points of no return for the person making them, as indicated by the speaker's words in Stanza 3, indicating that he would probably not return to try the other road. 

The idea that both roads (or choices) appeared both viable and appealing is juxtaposed with the poet being one person. He cannot take both roads at the same time. Also, having made his choice, this would inevitably lead to further choices, creating new roads and new choices. 

The final stanza then symbolically explicates the core idea to the reader: The road that is not taken or the "road less traveled" is the one that is most likely to lead to more adventure and potentially more fulfillment in life. The poet suggest that the less conventional choices in life are therefore the ones to make as much and as often as possible, because it makes "all the difference." (Line 20)

In "The Road Not Taken," Frost's philosophy is that the road he took has made all the difference. He did not take the other road. And while he may be telling his story with a sigh at not having taken the other road, he is satisfied with his choice, claiming it has made all the difference. 

Frost took the road less traveled by. He chose to be a unique individual, a nonconformist. He took the road that was less popular. He chose to strike out on his own. He chose to be separate from the others. His philosophy is that he may have regrets, but all in all, he feels he made the right choice and claims that the road less traveled by has made all the difference in his life. 

"Long [he] stood" at the place where "two roads diverged." And sorry that he could not take both roads, he took the other road.

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, he took the road less traveled by. And though he shall be telling this with a sigh, he feels confident that he took the road that has made all the difference:

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.

In the closing lines of "The Road Not Taken," Frost suggests that the path he took "has made all the difference."  "The Road Not Taken"  comments on both the process and product of the decisions we make.  In the poem, the speaker is poised between equally desirable, but ultimately incompatible courses of the good.  This ancient definition of tragedy is highlighted when the speaker opens the poem suggesting that he "was sorry I could not travel both."  There is little to suggest that one was the "right" choice and the other the "wrong" choice.  The reality is that the fork in the road diverged both, so he must be forced to choose.  There is no external criteria or set of standards to guide him, as he simply must decide based on what he deems as right and appropriate.  This is one of the first points the poem makes on the process of making decisions.  The choice between "good" and "bad" decisions is relatively easy. If poised in that situation, most humans would select the "good" choice because it is more desirable than the alternative.  However, when pitted between incommensurate goods, the predicament becomes a bit more nuanced and we might become "stuck."  There is nothing out there to guide us, other than our sense of decision making.  This process, as outlined, at the start of the poem, is what haunts us all:  "How do we make the 'right' choice when there is no 'right' choice, only being torn between 'right' choices?"

The speaker answers this dilemma with his choice.  He selects the road that had been less travelled.  There is a feeling that he could have selected the other road, if he had to do it all over again.  However, the resounding concept we gain from this poem is that the speaker made their choice, he made his commitment, his decision between equally compelling ends.  He made his decision, and while there might be some tinge of regret, or even contemplation about the what he left behind, his identity has been the sum total of his choices, and in this particular case the road less travelled,  "And that has made all the difference."   In making decisions, the speaker suggests that choosing a decision that we, as human beings select as desirable, that we, as human beings elect to stand for, and that we, as human beings feel is ours, become the best decisions we can make.  Sartre once said that the most challenging component of a human being's existence is the need "to choose."  Frost seems to be suggesting that this is where our greatest strength lies for if we select what we want, what we believe is right, and what we can defend, it can define us as who we are and make "all the difference."