Choose one of the thinking skills to answer this question: Why do you think the poet called the poem "The Road Not Taken" and not "The Road Taken"?

In "The Road Not Taken," the narrator is standing in a wood at a fork in the path contemplating which direction he should go. This is a conceit (an extended metaphor) for life itself, wherein we make many choices not really thinking of what might have happened had we made another choice. He's considering what will happen if he takes either road, fairly certain that each will produce a different outcome in his life, a...

In "The Road Not Taken," the narrator is standing in a wood at a fork in the path contemplating which direction he should go. This is a conceit (an extended metaphor) for life itself, wherein we make many choices not really thinking of what might have happened had we made another choice. He's considering what will happen if he takes either road, fairly certain that each will produce a different outcome in his life, a different chance meeting, and ultimately a different destiny. He chooses the road "less traveled by," thinking it will be the morning interesting one, the one that will perhaps lead him to a different destination (fate) than the one everyone else takes. 

Of course, neither path gives any guarantee of a better outcome than the other, so he cannot help but wonder whether the more traveled road would have been the best choice. Hence, the poem is about him wondering about what would have happened if he had made that minor decision a different way.