CH. ARUNA

LECTURER IN ENGLISH

HINDU COLLEGE

GUNTUR

• Robert Lee Frost was an American Poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime. His work frequently employed themes from the early 1900’s rural life in New England.

• First published in 1916 , “The Road Not Taken" shows Frost at his best as a pastoral who combines rustic simplicity with hidden , indirect and clarity of style and language.

• ‘The road’ is the symbol of the choice made by us in life. Many times, we regret the choice we make but

what is done once cannot be undone.

• Man regrets for what he has denied himself in life , rather than what he has chosen. Hence, the poet has

given his poem the title “The Road Not Taken”.

• The word "road" not only means "way", it also means "journey" or a "stage of journey". Here "road" does not signify any ordinary road, but functions a metaphor of

a vital decision.

• “Yellow” - The yellow coloring of the woods is representative of the light, hope, and promise that the speaker is standing before. His future is bright and stretches before him. Though both paths are equally lit, he must choose only one.

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• “Woods” - The poem is set in the woods because we get an image of a quiet, deserted place where the speaker is left alone to decide. There are no road signs or people to stop and ask for directions. Similarly, there are no signs in life designed to help people choose their path.

• “Roads” - The roads are symbolic of the paths we take in life. Every road leads to a specific place and the nature of one’s destination depends entirely on the decisions that are made. We don’t just arrive at a location; we make a series of choices that lead us there.

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• “Morning” - The morning represents a new beginning and the endless possibilities the day ahead has to offer. Frost sets the poem in the morning to reveal that the speaker is in the early years of his life and his future is spread out before him.

• The poem revolves around the metaphor comparing the decisions we make on the journey of life to a fork in the road. Just as we must decide which road to take when traveling in order to arrive at a location, we must make decisions in life that will greatly impact our destination. The speaker is a “traveler” on the road of life who wishes that he could go both directions and avoid making a decision.

SUMMARY OF THE POEM

• This poem talks about the choices one has to make in life and their consequences. One day while walking in a wooded area full of trees the poet comes to a place where he has to decide which road he should take. He starts debating over the choices as he realizes he cannot walk on both. However he decides to take the second path with the intention of travelling on the first some other time in future.

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;

THE FIRST STANZA MEAN?

• The speaker describes his position. He has been out for walking in the woods and comes in between the diversion of two roads, he stands there looking as far down each one as he can see. He would like to try out both, but doubts he could do that, so therefore he continues to look down the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which road to take.

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,

THE SECOND STANZA MEANS?

• He looked down the first one “to where it bend in the undergrowth”, and then the second one , and he decided to take the other path, because it seemed to have less traveled than the first. But then he goes on to say that they actually were very similarly worn. The second one that he took seems less traveled but as he thinks about it, he realizes that they were “really about the same”. Not exactly the same but only “about the same”.

Made by-

VANSHIKHA

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Class: IX B

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 THIRD STANZA MEAN?

• The third stanza continues with the cogitation about the possible differences between the two road. He had noticed that the leaves were both fresh fallen on them both and had not been walked on, but then again claims that maybe he would come back and also walk the first one sometimes, but he doubted he would be able to, because in life one thing leads to another and time is short.

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.

WHAT DOES FOURTH

STANZA MEAN?

• In this poem the word “difference” is taken in a positive way. But there is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference signals a positive outcome. The speaker could not offer such information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.
• The other word that leads non-discerning readers astray is the word “sigh.” By taking “difference” to mean a positive difference, they think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief; however, a sigh can also mean regret.

There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh, but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh. Which one is it? We do not know. If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker is glad he took the road he did; if it is the regret sigh, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret.

MESSAGE OF THIS POEM

• Robert Frost‟s poem “ The road not taken” seems to hold out the mortal that life is a continuous journey full of divergence now and then. The important thing is to move on without looking back whether the choice of paths taken was right or wrong. The right or wrong are relative terms. We cannot get everything in life and have to make choices. Whatever direction in our life takes is determined by the choice made by us . In the journey of life, one can seldom come back to travel the „roads‟ not taken earlier.

DON’T WORRY IT WILL BE AN EASY ONE….

⦿ 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;

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1. What does the narrator mean by the ‘yellow woods ‘?

Ans. It means a wood where the leaves are yellowing and falling to the ground as it was autumn.

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2. What does the narrator regret ?

Ans. He regrets the fact that he couldn’t travel on both the roads and must choose either one of the two.

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3. Which road did the narrator choose?

Ans. The poet chose the road that was grassy and less travelled by.

⦿ 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,

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⦿ What does other refer to in the above lines ?

Ans. ‘Other’ refers to the road that was grassy and less travelled upon.

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⦿ What literary device has been used in the above lines?

Ans. The literary device used above is a metaphor. The narrator compares life to a 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.

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⦿ What does ‘both’ refer to ?

Ans. ‘Both’ refers to the two roads that forked out in different directions.

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⦿ Explain ‘in leaves no step had trodden black’?

Ans. The narrator means that the path was not frequented. No one had walked that way and trampled upon the dried leaves that lay on the ground.

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⦿ What made the narrator doubt that he ‘should ever come back ‘?

Ans. He knew that one path would lead to another and he would never return to the path he had not taken and left for another day.

⦿ 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.

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⦿ What will the narrator tell with ‘a sigh’?

Ans. He would tell about the fork that he had come to in the woods and how he had taken the road less frequented by people.

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⦿ Do you think the narrator regret his choice later on?

Ans. No, he did not regret his choice. The sigh could be a satisfied happy sigh that he had had the foresight to be different from rest of the crowd.

Yes, the narrator regretted his decision as he says he will talk of his choice with a sigh as his sigh could be a sigh deep regret at having made the wrong choice.