The poem is made up of four stanzas each of which has a length of files lines making it a quintain. It has a first-person narrative with a steady rhythmical for beat emanating from its combination of anapestic and iambic tetrameter. The poem is mostly monosyllabic making it have a simple look, with an abaab traditional rhyme scheme, which is responsible for maintaining the lines tight together. On the other hand, the sense of flowing emanates from enjambment (lines running next to each other without punctuation).
The entire poem creates an extended metaphor where the road is life, and it does diverge. The implication is that it creates imagery of a fork, or splitting. A decision has to be made which will change the course life will take. In some way, forever.
Atmosphere/Tone
In as much as the poem is a thoughtful and reflective one, it depicts the speaker being caught in minds. He has come to a turning point. It is evident the speaker has to take one path or the other one, it is crystal clear, to take one and follow it, period! However, in life, it is not as simple as it sounds. It is in the human nature the mind to be at a dynamic thinking process in an attempt to work out things. One takes the low road, while the other takes the high road. Who takes the best?
The tone can be perceived as meditative. The speaker is standing at the diverging point with calmness pondering the pros and cons of either choice. He dilemma requires a serious and well-thought approach since no one can predict the repercussions of the option taken. However, the speaker is seen to be in favor of the path that is traveled by the few. The preferences emanate from the fact that the speaker likes and believes in solitude, which is what he enjoys. At the same time, he can be argued to be an individualist who prefers following his set agendas. Once the mind is made up, he does not waver or look back.
At that time one grows old, as portrayed by the speaker, the decision made to take one path and leave the other defines who one becomes and defines the way of being.