The unnamed speaker of "The Road Not Taken," like the poem itself, can be interpreted in multiple ways. It is possible to read the speaker as indecisive or even confused, as he troubles himself over the choice of which path to take and cannot decide which has the better "claim" (7). One could also interpret the speaker as an optimist, evidenced by the final lines in which he affirms that his choice "made all the difference" (20). A more nuanced reading of the speaker, however, would be that he is more interested in questioning to what extent personal choice affects one's life. This reading is especially pertinent because the final stanza takes place in the future. In other words, the speaker imagines that he is reflecting on the experience of choice as having made a difference in his life, but it has not actually happened in real time.

The...