Road Not Taken (Notes)

Characters: Poet

Setting: Yellow wood

Theme: Making choices in life

Mood: Confused/Perplexed

Literary Devices:

⮚ Rhyming Scheme – abaab/ABAAB

⮚ Symbolism - uses symbols to represent something beyond the literal meaning. Eg. two
roads which represent two or more choices in our life.

⮚ Anaphora - repetition of a word or words at the beginning of lines. Eg. ‘and’ repeated at
the beginning of lines 2, 3 and 4

⮚ Alliteration - repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Eg. Wanted Wear
/w/ sound is repeating, first for’ – /f/ sound is repeating, ‘though, that’- /th/ sound is
repeating.

⮚ Assonance- It is repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. The repetition is at different
places in different words. /o/ sound repeated in Line 1 and 3

⮚ Repetition: ‘Ages’ is repeated. ‘Two roads diverged in a wood’- this sentence is repeated
in stanzas 1 and 4.

⮚ Imagery- Make the readers feel things through their five senses. The poet has used
images of the sense of sights such as leaves, yellowwoods and these images help readers
to actually perceive things they are reading. The image of the road helps readers to
visualize the road providing a navigation route to the traveler.

⮚ Simile - There is one simile used in the second stanza such as “as just as fair”. It shows
how the poet has linked the road less taken to the easy way through life.

Summary: ‘The Road Not Taken’ is an autobiographical poem. Once, the poet came across a
junction when his path diverged into two and he had to make a decision of which road to take.
He stood there for a Long time and gave serious thought to each road. Then he decided to take
the road which was less travelled. The reason for this was that it was grassy and as far as the
condition of the road was concerned, both the roads were equally worn. He decided to keep the
other road for some other time, though he knew that he might not be able to go back to that
road. That morning, both the roads lay equally covered in leaves. No traveller had trodden on
them that day. The poet felt that after ages he would be telling with a sigh that both the roads
diverged in a forest. And the decision of taking the less travelled road made all the difference in
his life.
The poem revolves around a general problem that one faces in life. It is about making a
choice in life. Life gives us many opportunities and one has to make a decision and stick to it.
One can’t get everything in life. The decision taken can sometimes be wrong also but the choice
has to be made. The choice affects our life, but the step once taken cannot be retracted.

Question Answers:
Q1. 1. Where does the traveller find himself? What problem does he face?
The traveller finds himself standing on a fork in the path. He is in a problem as he must
choose one path and is unable to decide which one to choose.
Q2. Discuss what these phrases mean to you.
(i) a yellow wood - ‘Yellow wood’ refers to the forest which has withering leaves as in the
season of autumn. It represents a world full of ageing people.
(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear - It means that the path had a lot of grass on it. This means
that it had not been walked over by many people. It had to be worn out by the steps of the
people who walked on it.
(iii) the passing there - It means that when he walked over the path that he had chosen.
(iv) leaves no step had trodden black - It means that no one had walked over the leaves as they
were still green. If they had been walked over, they would have turned black.
(v) how way leads on to way - A. It means that as we walk on a path, we come across more
options and make choices further. We keep on walking ahead on that way.
Q3.Is there any difference between the two roads as the poet describes them in stanzas two and
three and in the last two lines of the poem?
The two paths were similar. In the beginning, the poet felt that one of them was grassy
and had not been walked over by many people, but when he walked on it for some distance, he
realised that it was like the other road. In the last line, again the poet talks of his initial decision
when he thought that the roads were different and chose the one that had been walked over by a
lesser number of people.
Q4. What is the dilemma of the poet?
The poet is in the dilemma of whether he will be able to come back to the second road or
not. The poet faces a dilemma that every man faces in his life, i.e making the right decision.
One day during the walk the poet reached a fork road. Out of the two roads, he had to choose
only one. He decides to take the second road which was less travelled. Hence the road is
symbolic of choice. It is not possible to make more than one choice, and to take both the roads.
So the poet decides to take the one less travelled.
Q5.What did the narrator hope that he would do one day? Was he sure of doing so?
The narrator hoped to come back and try the other path someday. No, he did not think he
would do so because he knew that one path led to another and it would be difficult for him to
come back.
Q6. 'The Road Not Taken' is a metaphor of life. Justify the statement and the title of the poem.
In 'Road Not Taken' Frost uses the fork in the road as a metaphor for the choices we
make in life. Thus, the two roads are, in fact, two alternative ways of life. They present two
directions and two options to the poet. He has made a choice. He has opted for the road which is
less travelled by. He leaves the first for another day. It becomes impossible to come back on the
road one has left. Once choice makes all the difference in one's life. Hence the title is
appropriate and logical.
Q7. Why does the poet describe the woods as yellow?
The poet stood at a point where two roads diverged in a forest. It was autumn and the
leaves of the trees had turned yellow and were falling.
Q8. Why did the poet doubt his coming back on the same intersection in life?
This poem is about choices, decisions and their consequences. It is a fact that once the
choice has been made there is no going back. The traveller standing on the road of life is
confronted with the dilemma when both the paths and choices look equally promising. Once the
road is chosen, the traveller has to move on. There is no rewinding.
Q9. Which road does the poet choose? Why? Is he happy about his decision?
The poet chose the road which is less travelled by, which had not been trodden so far. He
reflected and argued with himself that maybe someday he will come back, find the road and
walk on it. But somewhere in his mind he was troubled with the thought that maybe he would
not be able to do so. Life does not deal in rewinding and coming back to end one's decisions or
undo mistakes. The poet is happy about the decision which had made all the difference in his
life.
Q10. Have you ever had to make a difficult choice (or do you think you will have difficult
choices to make)? How will you make the choice (for what decisions)?
[Write your own answer]

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