On the surface, the decision that the narrator has to make in "The Road Not Taken" is pretty simple: Which of these two roads should I take? Is either of them better than the other? What makes them different? The narrator seems to have a bit of regret that he cannot, indeed, take both paths, wishing to keep "the first for another day." But he knows full well that things will probably keep him from...
On the surface, the decision that the narrator has to make in "The Road Not Taken" is pretty simple: Which of these two roads should I take? Is either of them better than the other? What makes them different? The narrator seems to have a bit of regret that he cannot, indeed, take both paths, wishing to keep "the first for another day." But he knows full well that things will probably keep him from ever coming back to take the path if he can't do it right now:
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Of course the simplicity of the decision belies its true meaning. We are faced with seemingly simple decisions every day, often between paths with seemingly equal desirability or outcome:
...the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
In other words, one of these roads looks like it has been taken more than the other, but really they probably each get about as much use.
Though we cannot know from the poem itself if there is some other, deeper decision being made by the narrator (Should I take the teaching job? Should I buy a house or continue renting? Should I have coffee or tea with my scone?), we can relate to that decision through the metaphor of the two paths.
The future is unknowable, and can only be found out by making a decision and pushing forward. It is the making of that decision that is important. It is the pushing forward through life and continuing to take path after path that, in the end, will make "all the difference."
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