THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
by Robert Frost
 
 

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 marked 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.
 
 

Writing Assignment.
"Decision." Autobiographical short essay. 300 words. It's a rough draft, but use ink on a separate sheet. Approx. 3 paragraphs. Due Tuesday, 8/31.
Start with the action!

  1. Show an important choice you made (or didn't make)..
  2. Show how you decided (your thought processes, what went through your head).
  3. Show how you feel about it now.
 Questions.
  1. *Translate each stanza into one sentence.
  2. What is the pattern of rhyming? (rhyme scheme) 
  3. Is the poem "better" because it rhymes? What makes you think so/not?
  4. (quote) Why did the narrator pick the path he did?
  5. What are his plans for the other path?
  6. (quote) What does he think the chances are for that actually happening? Why?
  7. *"I shall be telling this with a sigh..."  Why a sigh? What does that imply?
  8. "And that has made all the difference." Does he mean that in a good way or a bad way?
  9. *Why is it called "The Road NOT Taken"? Which road does the title refer to: the road not taken by the narrator, or the road not taken by most people?
  10. Which road do you usually take? Why?
  11. This poem is usually interpreted as an assertion of individualism, but critic Lawrence Thompson has argued that it is a slightly mocking satire on an always-hesitant walking partner of Frost's, who always wondered what would have happened if he had chosen their path differently. What do you think?