The Road Not Taken
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 undergrowth;
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,
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.
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.
The Road Not Taken" is told as a first-person narrative.
Literally, "The Road Not Taken" is about a
traveler who is walking in
the woods and has come upon two roads. The traveler
cannot travel
both roads and thus must make a decision which one
to walk. He
evaluates both roads and chooses the road less
traveled realizing that
he cannot back.
Figuratively, "The Road Not Taken" is
about choices in life. The choices
are represented in the poem by the two roads in the woods.
The person
must choose between the choices many make or the
choice that few make.
The first stanza of the poem describes a traveler
comes to a fork in a
and wishes he could "travel both" routes,
but at the same time he realizes
that the thought of traveling both roads is
impractical and therefore rejects it.
In the second stanza, the traveler suggests the
other road has "perhaps the better
claim” because it was “grassy and wanted wear,"
implying that this road is "less
traveled by." However, he then contradicts his
own judgment by saying that "Though as
for that the passing there/had worn them really
about the same."
The poet has also used imagery as a literary device:
"Two roads diverged in a
yellow wood" (from the first stanza), and
"And both that morning equally lay/in
leaves no step had trodden black" (from the
third stanza) to create a picture in the
reader's mind.
1. What is the rhyme scheme in each stanza?
Answer: the rhyme scheme in each stanza is abaab. The rhyme enhances the lyrical nature of the poem.
2. What is the use of seasonal images?
Answer: Frost use seasons to suggest the passage of life and the future of death.
3. What do the past tense in the first 3 stanzas and the future tense in the last stanza suggest?
Answer: The first three stanzas is the recount of his dilemma of choice and the last stanza represents the present time, where he tells the difference of the road as a consequence of time passing.
4. How many times does “I” occur in the poem? Why?
Answer: “I” occur nine times in the poem to emphasize it’s all about the traveller (poetic persona).
5. What does the repetition of and in stanza 2-4 suggests?
Answer: It shows that the writer can’t make up his mind and “and” takes the audience through he decision process.
6. What is the use of nature imagery in this poem?
Answer: Nature imagery shows the traveller wants to be individual and not follow others, the traveller is very adventurous.
7. What are the colours in the poem? What do they represent?
Answer: Yellow suggests autumn and black leaves suggest winter, having been trampled.
8. What is the metaphor of the roads?
Answer: The two roads representing two possible ways of life, suggests a young man at a crucial stage of his life
9. What is the theme of the poem?
Answer: The title is the metaphor of the road as a journey through life. It is a common human experience to reach a moment where we have to make a crucial decision. Once we have chosen, there is no turning back. The speaker is confused and is in a dilemma of choosing the right road.
10. What does the forks of the road represents?
Answer: They represent the unexpected events that arise out of life.
