THE ROAD NOT TAKEN poem is written by Robert Frost. The word by word meaning is given below from the poem. This poem explains and tell us about
❑. PROBLEM OF CHOICE
❑PROBLEM OF DECISION MAKING
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;
WORD MEANINGS
🞆 Diverged - Separated and took different directions
🞆 Yellow wood - Forest in autumn season
🞆 undergrowth - Dense growth of plants and bushes
Then took the other, as just as fair 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.
WORD MEANINGS
◻ As just as fair - Equally good
◻ Better claim - Better option/promise of better future
◻ Wanted wear - Less travelled road
◻ The passing there - Walking on the road
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
WORD MEANINGS
◻ No step had trodden black - Leaves had not been crushed under the feet of travellers
◻ Way leads on to way - One road leads to another
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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
WORD MEANINGS
◻ Sigh - Deep breath
◻ Ages and ages hence - Years later/ in future
RHYME SCHEME of the poem The Road Not Taken
◻ How to work out the rhyme scheme
Concentrate on the last word of each line of a stanza.
For Example: Stanza 1
Wood
Both
Stood
Could
Undergrowth
wood, stood and could are rhyming words as they end with the same sound i.e. d. Similarly both and undergrowth are rhyming words as they end with the same sound th. So the rhyme scheme is : abaab
LITERARY DEVICES
◻ Alliteration: Repetition of words beginning with the same sound in a line
Example: * wanted wear (‘w’ sound is repeated)
* first for (‘f’ sound is repeated)
* though, that (‘th’ sound is repeated)
Repetition: * ‘ages’ is repeated in 2nd line in stanza 4.
* Two roads diverged in a wood.
This sentence is repeated in stanzas 1 & 4
SYBOLICAL/METAPHORICAL MEANING OF THE POEM
◻ Road symbolises the journey of life.
◻ Two Roads symbolise (represent) the alternatives/options we come across in our life.
Such situations occur in everyone’s life when we have to take a vital decision but we have multiple options.
◻ The road not taken is the path we don’t choose.
MESSAGE Of This Poem
Robert Frost’s poem “ The Road Not Taken” conveys an important message for us. Life is a continuous journey full of divergence now and then. We have to take important decisions. Our decisions determine the course of our life. They shape our future. The right decisions lead us to success, whereas one wrong decision can ruin our life. So it is imperative for us to make right choices. We must remember that our decision may have far reaching consequences. So we must think of all the pros and cons and take any decision only after due deliberation.
Reference to context
⦿ Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
1. What does the narrator mean by the ‘yellow woods ‘?
2. What does the narrator regret ?
3. Which road did the narrator choose?
⚫Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really the same,
⚫What does other refer to in the above lines ?
⚫What literary device has been used in the above lines?
⦿ And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
⦿ What does ‘both’ refer to ?
⦿ Explain ‘in leaves no step had trodden black’?
⦿ What made the narrator doubt that he ‘should ever come back‘?
⚫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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
⚫ What will the narrator tell with ‘a sigh’?
⚫ Do you think the narrator regrets his choice