1.1 The Road Not Taken

1.1 The Road Not Taken

ROBERT FROST

This well-known poem is about making choices, and the choices that shape us. Robert Frost is an American poet who writes simply, but insightfully, about common, ordinary experiences.

                                                                   

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the underground;

Questions:

01.    What is the name of the poet and the poem?

02.    Name the poem and the poet.

03.    From which poem these lines have been taken?

04.    How many diverging roads were there?

05.    What was poet sorry about?

06.    What did he keep looking at?

07.    Where did the two roads diverge?

08.    Why had the poet to choose one road?

09.    How far could he see?

10.    Explain ‘yellow wood’

Then took the other, just as fair, a

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

Questions:

01.    Which road did the poet take?

02.    What similarity did the pot notice between the two or them?

03.    What is the name of the poet and the poem?

04.    Name the poem and the poet.

05.    What was difference between the roads?

06.    From which poem these lines have been taken?

07.    Which of the two road did the pot take?

08.    Which road, according to the poet, batter claim and why?

09.    Why did this road have ‘the better claim’?

10.    Do you think the grassy road had never been used before?

11.    What do you understand by ‘wanted wear’?

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black,

On, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

Questions;

01.    What was common between the roads that morning?

02.    What were the two roads were covered with?

03.    Why did the poet not take the first road?

04.    What did the pot doubt and why?

05.    Was he sure that he would ever come back and travel on the first road?

06.    What did the poet keep for another day?

07.    Explain ‘trodden black’.

08.    What do you understand by ‘way leads on to way’?

09.    What is the doubt of author?

10.    What showed that neither of the two roads had been used that morning?

11.    What is the name of the poet and the poem?

12.    Name the poem and the poet.

13.    From which poem these lines have been taken?

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence;

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Questions:

01.    What is the name of the poet and the poem?

02.    What would the poet be telling with a sigh?

03.    Name the poem and the poet.

04.    What had made all the difference?

05.    From which poem these lines have been taken?

06.    Which road did the poet take?

07.    Which road did the poet take?

08.    How did it affect his life?

09.    Where did the two roads diverge?

10.    What do ‘the roads’ stands for?

11.    What is the poet’s mood in these lines?

12.    What made all the difference?

GLOSSARY

diverged: separated and took a different direction

undergrowth: dense growth of plants and bushes

wanted wear: had not been used

Thinking about the poem

 
I. 1. Where does the traveller find himself? What problem does he face?

Ans.The traveller finds himself in the yellow woods at a point where the road divides into two ways. 

The problem that he faces is that he cannot travel both of roads at the same time to continue his journey.

2. Discuss what these phrases mean to you.

(i) a yellow wood

(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear

(iii) the passing there

(iv) leaves no step had trodden black

(v) how way leads on to way

Ans. i) Yellow wood symbolises the autumn season. Where the trodden leaves are fallen on the road and turned yellow. The poet corresponds it with old age. Ans. ii) It conveys that the road was full of grass and nobody has used that road because It was still smooth and had not worn out.  Ans. iii) The use of the path by passersby. Ans. iv) The leaves had not changed their colour and turned black because of less people stepping on them. It represent a path on which one may have never / seldom travel in life for the fear of uncertainty.  Ans. v) This phrase means how certain decisions one makes in his life could change the way for many other decisions.

3. Is there any difference between the two roads as the poet describes them

(i) in stanzas two and three?

(ii) in the last two lines of the poem?

Ans. i) In stanza two the poet explains that the only difference between the two roads was that the road he took had the right to be chosen (the better claim) because it was covered with grass and looked as if it had not been used too much. Besides this difference, both roads had been equally worn down by passersby travelling on them.                 In stanza three the poet says that both the roads were equally covered with leaves and that no person had stepped on. Ans. ii) In the last two lines of the poem the poet says that there is a difference between the two roads because he took the road that was less travelled by other people and that made all the difference to his journey.

4. What do you think the last two lines of the poem mean? (Looking back, doesthe poet regret his choice or accept it?)

Ans. The last two lines of the poem mean the acceptance of reality. The poet made a choice and accepted the challenging path. He took and unexplored path in his life. He wanted to do something different in his life so he chooses the less travelled road. No he does not regret his choice.

 II. 

1. Have you ever had to make a difficult choice (or do you think you will have difficult choices to make)? How will you make the choice (for what reasons)?

Ans.  No, till now I have never been in a situation in which I had to make a difficult choice. Perhaps I am still too young to make an independent choice. Yes, I think later or sooner I will have difficult choices to make. After completing my general education, I will have to make choice of profession whether I should become and engineer or doctor or something else. I will have hundreds of option before me. Then it will be difficult to make a choice in between them. I will make choice according to my capabilities and strong points at that time. I will choose a path that gives me satisfaction and mental peace. I will not join the rat race for money. Like the poet in poem, I will choose a challenging and unexplored path in my life.

2. After you have made a choice do you always think about what might have been, or do you accept the reality? 

Ans. Taking a decision sometime make or mars our future. Having made a choice, I accept the reality. Reconsidering a decision or contemplating over it is not a positive approach towards life. Such thoughts never allow us to be happy with what we have gained from our decision. Therefore, I believe in sticking to my decisions.

Time is not measured by the passing of years but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves.                                                                                                                                  JAWAHARLAL NEHRU False science creates atheists; true science prostrates Man before divinity.                                                                                                                                               VOLTAIRE

SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS Q.1 Why was the poet called the wood yellow? Ans. The ground under the trees looks yellow because the ground was the covered with the fallen leaves that looks like the yellow collours. Q.2 Why was the traveler standing? What problem does he face? Ans. The traveler was standing two roads diverged in the wood. He was in a problem which road he should follow. Ultimately he chooses the less (other) traveled road. Q.3 What was the condition of the road? What did it wanted? Ans. The road was less traveled and covered with yellow leaves. It was wanted to use by the travelers. Q.4 Which road was chosen by the travelers and what change it brought in his life? Ans. He chooses the less (other) traveled road. This choice brought a change in her life. In this poem we feels the poet feel regret over his choice. Q.5 Why did the poet leave the first road? Was he sure to come back on the first road? Ans. The poet did not take first road because he thought to travel on its some other day. He knows that he would not be able to come back on travel it.  Q.6 What did the poet feel after using the first road? Ans. The traveling on other road influence all his life so he feels the poet feel regret why he did not take the other road. Q.7 Write the Central Idea of the poem. Ans. The poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ specifies that in our life are often forced to choose one of the two things and to reject the other. Later in life, we ponder on our choice and think of the difference that our choice has made to our life.