The tone of the poem is meditative because speaker contemplates on his options.
He has to take into account the characteristics of each road. There is an element of regret also as he can not travel on both road but poems ends on an optimistic not as poet thinks that traveling on less-traveled road will make the difference. He signifies the importance of his individuality that compels him to move on a less-trodden path. He does not adopt the ordinary path in the mundane activities of life. The tone is that of sadness and he uses the line “I shall be telling this with a sigh”.The next line also situates the point of reflection wherein the author says “Somewhere ages and ages hence; Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by,” The metaphor of the words ages and ages hence places the time or hour of recollection at a much recent time after he made his choice, or since the time he made his choice, and decided his course of action.
It implies that this choice was made a long time ago and the last stanza gives a clue as to the outcome of that choice.Aside from the two possible scenarios that this poem can be interpreted into, there are also some conflicts of imagery. These conflicts are stated in the use of the lines “Because it was grassy and wanted wear;” indicates one path or road obviously still has a lot of grass untouched by trudging feet or passers by. However, the last two lines goes, “Though as far that the passing there/ had worn them really about the same”, describing both paths and roads as equally traveled or trudged upon by travelers.This seeming conflict in imagery, though I would interpret as the author’s state of mind, when he was presented with a dilemma or a proposition of which road to take. He seemed to be weighing his options and was in the process of balancing his final decision as to which road to take and sees that there is not much difference in the outward appearance of both paths.
In conclusion, the poem in general takes a positive, albeit sad remembrance of the choices in life that the author has made.But what he seems to be sad about is that he must have wanted to take as many paths as he could, but only he could not as the time of choice is well past already. Still, the author encourages people and readers to take the road less traveled, for although it presents more challenge and probably even hardship, it is usually the right path to take. The first stanza presents the dilemma; second stanza symbolizes the choices available to the speaker. Third stanza manifests his regret over not taking the other road whereas fourth road depicts the decision of the poet to take the less traveled road.There is sign of exclamation after line 13 that indicates the excitement on decision to keep the first path for another day but this excitement soon dies out as he doubts that whether he will come back.
In lines 18 and 19, there is repetition of “I” that denotes the emphasis on “his” decision to move on less traveled trail. Rhyme scheme of the poem is abaabcdccd…Frost uses simple diction that conveys his message with comprehensive. So as a whole, this poem uses different tones to describe the psychological dilemma of the poet in decision-making. His experience is not subjective but is of universal nature and he presents it in a subtle way.
