THE ROAD NOT TAKEN EXPLANATION BLOG 2

BLOG 2 THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Good morning boys

 HOPE YOU HAVE FILLED YOUR ATTENDANCE IN THE SHEET POSTED ABOVE 
 

Yesterday you read the poem The Road not 

taken. You were also told about the poet. Today 

you will be given a line by line explanation of the poem:

At the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Summarise the poem
•    Explain important words and phrases in the context used here  
•     Answer questions based on the text.

  Let us begin with the meaning of important words and phrases 

  1.   A yellow wood  → it refers to the season of autumn. Also the       poet may mean old age or the later stages of life

  2.   It was grassy and wanted wear  →     It indicates that hardly anyone had used that  second road

  3.   The passing there   →   the use of the road by passers by 

  4.   The leaves no step had trodden black →     once we make decisions we cannot go back and change our decisions

  5.   How way leads to way →   how one decision often leads to another 

CLASSWORK:
Copy the above phrases and their meanings in your English notebook

Summary of the poem

Lines 1-2

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

The poet while travelling on foot in the woods reaches a junction where two roads diverge. Immediately, he realises that as a traveller travelling both the roads is impossible. Here two roads express a dilemma between two choices in life. The woods are yellow, which mean that it is probably fall [autumn] and the leaves are turning yellow.

Lines 3-5

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

As it is impossible for one person to travel both the roads, the poet stands there trying to choose which path he is going to take. However the poet wants to go down both paths and is thinking about it hard. He  stares down one road, trying to see where it goes. The small plants and greenery of the woods block his view.

Lines 6-8

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

The phrase ‘just as fair’ could mean something like “equally worthy and equal.’ Both roads had the right to be chosen and one can choose either of the two.  Then the poet decided to check the other path because he found the other road to be less travelled and a grassy one. From his perspective not many had gone down that path and he being daring still chose it. “Wanted wear” is alliteration.

Lines 9-10

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.  

After looking at both the roads, he found that both the roads were equally travelled. First, he found the first road to be the more travelled one, but then he says that both the roads were equally travelled. A layer of leaves covers the paths and so it is difficult to tell them apart.

Lines 11-12

And both that morning equally lay        

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Here, again, the poet found both the paths looking same. Perhaps, he goes in flashback. It was tough for him to recognise the right road as both seemed the same.

He couldn’t decide the right path as no step had smashed the leaves on the road to allow him to go for the right one or the more travelled one. These lines are an example of imagery. Both roads are untouched, not having been tarnished by previous travellers; this gives us an idea about the dilemma the poet is going through in making his choice.

Lines 13-15

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.    

The poet here says he saves the first road for another day. He know how “way leads” to another, how one gets caught up in the hectic nature of life until you end up very far from where you started. The poet here saves the first road for another day. Then in the next line he says he doesn’t think he will ever be able to come back and take the other path, as much as he wishes he could.

Line 16

 I shall be telling this with a sigh

This line is an example of the poet’s reflection on whether he did the right in choosing the path he did. The word “sigh” reflects that he may sometimes wonder a lot about his decision made on that eventful day. He may wonder what would have happened if he had chosen the first road. What would have been the differences in his life. He knows that one cannot possibly choose both and that probably troubles him. The not knowing what would have happened if the choice was different.

Lines 17-19

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less travelled by,

He accepts the fact that he was in a great state of dilemma when asked to make his decision. ‘Ages and ages’ is an example of alliteration. Pondering over his choices, he chose the less travelled one.

Line 20

And that has made all the difference.

The poet took the path that no one else did, and that is what has made the difference in his life, that has made him successful. There is however a sense of ambiguity as to what the word difference could mean, it may mean he was successful or that he was a failure. He does stick to his choice once it is made and the message is one of making independent decisions.

  

  ·     Copy the given explanation in your notebook.

THAT IS ALL FOR TODAY

SEE YOU SOON