Table of contents |
|
About the Poet |
|
Key Points of the Poem |
|
Detailed Summary |
|
Title Justification |
|
Theme/Message |
|
Literary Devices |
|
Difficult Words |
|
Class 9 English Poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost signifies a situation where the poet was walking down a road that had a diversion. He had to choose between the two paths. Below is a concise summary of the poem.
Robert Frost, born in 1874 in San Francisco, faced early tragedy with the loss of his father. He attended Dartmouth and Harvard but left without a degree. Frost married Elinor White and had six children. He began his poetic journey in England in 1912, gaining recognition for his reflections on rural life. Despite personal hardships, including the loss of children, Frost persevered and became a celebrated American poet with works like "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." His legacy, marked by simplicity and profound themes of nature and choice, continues to inspire readers worldwide.
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;
The speaker, walking through a forest whose leaves have turned yellow in autumn, comes to a fork in the road. The speaker, regretting that he is unable to travel by both roads (since he is, after all, just one person), stands at the fork in the road for a long time and tries to see where one of the paths leads. However, the speaker can't see very far because the forest is dense and the road is not straight.
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 speaker takes the other path, judging it to be just as good a choice as the first, and supposing that it may even be the better option of the two, since it is grassy and looks less worn than the other path. Though, now that the speaker has actually walked on the second road, he thinks that in reality the two roads must have been more or less equally worn-in.
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.
Reinforcing this statement, the speaker recalls that both roads were covered in leaves, which had not yet been turned black by foot traffic. The speaker exclaims that he is in fact just saving the first road, and will travel it at a later date, but then immediately contradicts him or herself with the acknowledgement that, in life, one road tends to lead onward to another, so it's therefore unlikely that he will ever actually get a chance to return to that first road.
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.
The speaker imagines him or herself in the distant future, recounting, with a sigh, the story of making the choice of which road to take. Speaking as though looking back on his or her life from the future, the speaker states that he was faced with a choice between two roads and chose to take the road that was less traveled, and the consequences of that decision have made all the difference in his or her life.
The title "The Road Not Taken" is apt for Robert Frost's poem for several reasons.
In summary, the title "The Road Not Taken" aptly captures the key themes of decision-making, the long-term impact of choices, and the reflective nature of the poem.
Theme
Message
119 videos|620 docs|82 tests
|
1. Who is the poet of "The Road Not Taken"? | ![]() |
2. What is the central theme of "The Road Not Taken"? | ![]() |
3. What literary devices are used in "The Road Not Taken"? | ![]() |
4. How does the poem conclude regarding the speaker's choice? | ![]() |
5. Why is the title "The Road Not Taken" significant? | ![]() |
![]() |
Explore Courses for Class 9 exam
|
|