The literal meaning of this poem is about a traveler that is on a road and at this point of this poem it splits into two paths. The traveler wishes that he could travel both of them. The traveler looked at both the roads and he found that the one was traveled more than the other was. He took the one that was least traveled. Neither road had been traveled lately. He said that he would leave the other one for another day. But he doubted that he would ever come back. Then he says that he took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.

The figurative meaning of "The Road Not Taken" is that the traveler is really just a person that is on the "road" of life. The point of which the road splits is a choice that the person has to make. He chooses the harder choice like it is harder to say "no" to drugs and to fight against peer pressure than it is to just say "yes." The reason why the "road" is harder is because the road is not beaten as much. The choice must have been hard because he said, "And sorry I could not travel both." He said that he would leave it for another day, but he doubted that he would ever come back. That means that he wishes that he could have the choice again and if he did then he would choose the other path to see what it was like. He also says that that one choice that he made has made all the difference.