Extract Based Questions: The Road Not Taken - Class 9 PDF Download

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Q1: “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;”

(a) What does the narrator mean by “a yellow wood”?
Ans: By “yellow wood” the poet means a forest where the trees have yellowing and falling leaves.

(b) What choice did the narrator have to make?
Ans: The narrator had to choose between the two roads.

(c) What does the narrator regret?
Ans: The narrator regrets the fact that he cannot travel on both the paths. He also regrets the fact that he cannot come back to the start once he makes a choice.

Q2: “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 I could;
To where it bent in the undergrowth,”

(a) What did the narrator see in the wood?
Ans: The narrator saw two paths diverging in the forest.

(b) Why did the poet stand there for “long”?
Ans: The poet stood there for long because he could not make up his mind which path to take.

(c) The poet here is using “roads” as symbols of:
Ans: Choices one makes in life.

Q3: “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,”

(a) What does “other” refer to in the above lines?
Ans: In the above lines, “other” refers to the road that was grassy and less travelled upon.

(b) Which road did the narrator choose?
Ans: The narrator chose the one that was grassy and less travelled upon.

(c) Explain “grassy and wanted wear”?
Ans: The road was covered with grass as not many people had walked this road so it was more inviting.

Q4: ‘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.”

(a) What does “both” refer to?
Ans: In the given lines “both” refers to the two roads that forked out in different directions.

(b) Explain the line “In leaves no step had trodden back”.
Ans: The given line means a path not commonly used so the dried leaves that lay on the ground and had not been trampled upon.

(c) What made the narrator doubt whether he “should ever come back”?
Ans: The fact that one road generally leads to another made the narrator doubt that he should ever come back.

Q5: “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”

(a) Which road did the poet leave?
Ans: The poet left the road on which most people travelled.

(b) When will the poet look back on his life?
Ans: The poet would look back on his life after a very long time – when he is an old man.

(c) Why do you think the poet says this “with a sigh”?
Ans: The poet is regretful; he could not return and take the.road he had left behind to travel on another day.

Q6: “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”
(a) Where is the narrator standing?
Ans: The narrator is standing at a place where the road forked into two.

(b) Why was the narrator sorry?
Ans: The narrator was sorry because he could not travel both roads.

Q7: “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.”

(a) What will the narrator tell “with a sigh”?
Ans: The narrator will tell about the fork that he had come to in the woods and the choice he had to make; the fact that he had taken the road less frequented by people.

(b) Why does the narrator say, “And that has made all the difference”?
Ans: The narrator said that later in life he shall be retrospectively telling people how his life has been different due to the choices he had made long ago.

(c) What did the poet wish to do when he takes the road that he has not been able to do?
Ans: The poet wanted to come back and take the other road.

Q8: “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”

(a) What is the theme of the poem?
Ans: The theme of the poem is the various problems we face in life and the choices we make.

(b) Which poetic device defines the roads in the wood?
Ans: A metaphor has been used to define the two roads in the wood.

(c) What is the tone of the poet in the last stanza?
Ans: The poet adopts a reflective tone in the last stanza.