In Robert Frost's immensely-popular--though often misinterpreted--poem, "The Road Not Taken," the road "less traveled by" symbolizes a couple of things. First, this phrase symbolizes the desire to make choices for oneself. The narrator openly admits earlier in the poem that the two paths he encounters are equally well-traveled, but he later refers to the one he took as "less traveled." This is because he wants to make it seem as though he made a deliberate choice to be different than those who had come before him. The choice was not significant, but he wants to believe (or others to believe) it was important.
Second, the road "less traveled" symbolizes the possibilities lost by making a decision. The narrator wishes he could travel on both paths, but he must make a choice. He chooses one--on impulse--but continues to think about the opportunities he missed by not choosing the other path.
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