When faced with a fork in the road, the traveler "look[s] down one as far as [he] could / To where it bent in the undergrowth" (lines 4-5). First, he checks one road out, noting that he cannot see very far down its path. Then, he decides to "[take] the other, as just as fair,/ And having perhaps the better claim,/ Because it was grassy and wanted wear" (6-8). So, he takes the second of...
When faced with a fork in the road, the traveler "look[s] down one as far as [he] could / To where it bent in the undergrowth" (lines 4-5). First, he checks one road out, noting that he cannot see very far down its path. Then, he decides to "[take] the other, as just as fair,/ And having perhaps the better claim,/ Because it was grassy and wanted wear" (6-8). So, he takes the second of the two roads, sort of arbitrarily. It seemed a little nicer, perhaps, because it was grassy, but he notes that "the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same,/ And both that morning equally lay/ In leaves no step had trodden black" (9-12). In other words, the same number of people have traveled each road because they were "worn [...] about the same" and "equally lay" in leaves that had not been walked on that day.
He does, say, however, that when he is older, reminiscing about his life, he is going to tell people that "[he] took the [road] less traveled by/ And that has made all the difference" (19-20). So, although he takes a road that has been no less traveled (because they are equally traveled), he is going to tell people that one was less traveled and that he chose that one. In other words, he is going to lie. Why? Because we all want to believe that we make unique choices that ultimately have value and shape our lives and give them meaning and direction. In the end, Frost seems to be saying that there really aren't unique choices but it is human nature to say that we have made them anyway.
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