What is the literal meaning of the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem consisting of four quatrains written from the point of view of a first-person narrator. 

In the first stanza, the narrator is standing at the fork in a road through the woods. The area is the countryside in New England and the forest has dense overgrowth, suggesting it is virgin forest. The phrase "yellow wood" suggests that it is fall, when in New England the leaves...

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem consisting of four quatrains written from the point of view of a first-person narrator. 

In the first stanza, the narrator is standing at the fork in a road through the woods. The area is the countryside in New England and the forest has dense overgrowth, suggesting it is virgin forest. The phrase "yellow wood" suggests that it is fall, when in New England the leaves of birches turn yellow. 

The narrator looks at the two roads, and notes that one is slightly less traveled, as evidenced by its being covered in grass. He decides to take the less-traveled road.

He notes in the third stanza that no one has traveled on either road recently because the fallen leaves are yellow rather than turning black as they do after people step on them. 

In the fourth stanza he imagines how he will think back on this decision in the future, saying:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.