THE ROAD NOT TAKEN : INTRODUCTION

- April 20, 2020

April 20, 2020

BLOG 1 - ROAD NOT TAKEN

Good morning boys. Thank you for logging in. Today we will be discussing a poem by the well-known poet Robert Frost

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

· Elaborate details on the life and works of Robert Frost

· Explain the mood and tone of the poem

Let’s begin by telling you about the life and works of Robert Frost

Robert Frost, in full Robert Lee Frost, (born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died January 29, 1963, Boston, Massachusetts), was an American poet who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations.

In 1894, he sold his first poem, "My Butterfly. An Elegy" (published in the November 8, 1894, edition of the New York Independent) for $15 ($443 today).

Title / Office

Poet Laureate (1958-1959)

Awards and Honours

Bollingen Prize 1962

Pulitzer Prize [received 4 Pulitzer prizes]

10 Most Famous Poems by Robert Frost

· #10 The Gift Outright.

· #9 Acquainted with the Night.

· #8 Home Burial.

· #7 Out, Out.

· #6 Fire and Ice.

· #5 Birches.

· #4 Nothing Gold Can Stay.

· #3 Mending Wall.

· #2 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.

· #1 The Road Not Taken.

Let’s begin by reading the poem:-

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

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;

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 travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Here is a video link to listen to a recitation of the above poem.. Road Not Taken

The poem consists of four stanzas, each five lines in length [quintrain]

The rhyme scheme is ABAAB.

The whole poem is an extended metaphor. The road is life and it diverges, giving us choices to be made.There is a decision to be made and once made, life will be changed forever.

This is a reflective poem where the poem thinks about his decision. He realises that on taking the second road ‘because it was grassy and wanted wear’ he has made all the difference to his life.

It seems to encourage unconventional thinking, taking bold decisions to tread a path not many have taken. It does not moralize about choice but simply states that choice is inevitable. However it does illustrate that we will never know what the choice will mean until one has lived it.

ADDITIONAL FACT

Robert Frost wrote this poem when he was at a difficult time in his life.
He was torn between whether he should remain in U.S.A or migrate to England where he hoped there would be more publishers willing to take a chance on new poets.
However he did mention to someone that the poem had been taken far more seriously in meaning than he thought it would.