The Road Not Taken Man and the Natural World Quotes

From the very first line of the poem, we see a man confronted by a choice in nature. Though we suspect that this choice is actually a metaphor for a choice in his life that includes other people, and not just the natural world, we remain in the natural world for the majority of the poem. It's a nice breather in the forest, away from the hustle and bustle of people and cities – which make our choices so much more complicated.

Well, unlike we thought in the first line, nature can actually make things complicated. Even though we are in a peaceful forest making our choice, it's a little intimidating that the bushes and plants of the forest are keeping us from seeing where the path we take is leading us. Looks like we're stuck; in the natural world, and in civilization, we can't always see where our life is going, which, when it comes time to make big decisions, is no fun.

Now we see the speaker's bias towards the natural world. He thinks one of the paths is better, because people haven't traveled it as much. The natural world as close to its original state as possible is preferable to our speaker. He seems like a bit of a loner.

Our speaker's bias towards the natural world doesn't help him to make his decision after all – when he looks at the roads, he sees that they are worn about the same. Each road seems pretty fresh, because no one has stepped on the newly fallen leaves, turning them black. The image of leaves turning black, which they haven't yet here, is a visual demonstration of how people can destroy the beauty of the natural world.

Though we're not sure if one of the roads actually was less traveled, these lines repeat the speaker's preference for a world less affected by humans. He ends the poem by affirming his choice to take what he thought was the road less traveled, even if it was about equal to the other. It is this affirmative end of the poem that stays with the reader.