"Both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black." The leaves represent opportunities in the choice. Immediately he realizes that his choice was perhaps not too wise because both the paths had worn out. In the third stanza of the poem, Frost is trying to console himself that he will travel the other path some other day "Oh, I kept the first for another day". The desire to travel down both paths is expressed yet the poet knows very well, that he will not be able to take back his decision, "I doubted if I should ever come back". This is his common sense speaking and acknowledging that what he chooses now will affect every other choice he makes afterwards.
In the last stanza the narrator seems content with his choice yet he tells of it with a sigh: not so much a regretful sigh but a speculative one, ‘I shall be telling this with a sigh.’ He is resolving himself to the fact that even when ages and ages pass, he will still wonder what if he had taken the other road. Yet her remains proud of his decision and he recognises that it was this path that he chose that made him turn out the way and live his life the way in which he lived, ‘I took the less travelled by and that had made all the difference.’
There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and Frost may have intended this. He may have been trying to achieve a universal understanding. In other words, there is no judgement, no specificity, no moral. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision in his life that makes the man who he is now. It allows all readers from all different experiences to relate to the poem.
Frost uses various literary techniques to make the poem interesting. Alliteration has been used to attract the reader "wanted wear". This example of alliteration refers to the road. It shows, through the use of alliteration, that this road was somehow unique to Frost. Punctuation has been commonly used to attract the reader to something important.
The tone is very ironic. The first two lines of the last stanza show a lot of irony "I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence…" The word 'sigh' is very important. The word 'sigh' could show Frost's insincerity. He thinks that he will have to lie and belie the truth when trying to set an example. He will have to 'sigh'- signifying that he won't believe it himself - and then say 'Two roads diverged in the wood, and I--I took the one less travelled". But the word 'sigh' shows that in the back of his mind, he will know that both the paths were equally worn out and there was no 'less travelled path'.
The title is of a very ambiguous nature. At first glance, the title could suggest that the poem is likely to feature around a choice one has to make. However, on analyzing the title carefully, the word 'not' in the title could suggest a longing for the path that Frost did not take or the word 'not' could also signify the fact that no person travelled on that road.
