NCERT English Solution Class IX
By Robert Frost
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| THE ROAD NOT TAKEN |
The poem is about making choices in life and the decisions that shape our future. Many alternatives are available at the time of making choice but man has to select one. It is only the future that will reveal whether the decision taken is wrong or not. After taking decisions, we cannot undo them; we can only regret if it proves wrong. So taking the right decision and making correct choices is very crucial to an individual's life. Any wrong decision or choice can spoil our life.
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| ROBERT FROST |
NCERT English Solution Class IX
WORD MEANING
STANZA 1
diverged- separated.
yellow wood - the leaves on the trees are yellow, suggesting it is the autumn season.
undergrowth- dense growth of plants and bushes.
STANZA 2
fair - good.
better claim - it seemed better.
wanted wear - looked less worn out.
passing - on walking down.
STANZA 3
equally lay - were equally covered.
trodden black - turned the path black by crushing the leaves.
way leads on to way - one thing leads to another.
STANZA 4
sigh - sigh of satisfaction or regret.
ages and ages hence - many years in the future.
EXPLANATION
The poet has come into the deep autumnal woods where two roads have diverged into two ways like a fork. Immediately the poet understands that as a traveller, travelling both the roads is impossible. Here the two roads symbolise two ways to go in life. The poet finds himself in dilemma (not able to decide) about the choice of roads. He finds that the first road has bent in the undergrowth (bush). The undergrowth here represents the unknown world. The poet selects the road that appears at first glance to be less travelled. It suggests that he has an independent spirit and does not wish to follow the crowd. After a moment, he changes mind, concluding that both roads are equally worn out. Leaves cover both roads equally.No one this morning has yet taken either path, for the leaves lie undisturbed. This symbolises that the choices in life open to the poet are both unknown to him. The poet remains committed to his decision to take the road he has already selected, saying that he will save the other road for another day. This symbolises that he will make the other choice in life only if he is not satisfied with the results of the first choice. He observes that he will probably never pass this way again, as one path leads to another, and thus will never have an opportunity to take the other road. This symbolises that he will not be able to take the second choice in life at all. In years to come, the poet says, he will be telling others about the choice he made, meaning that he will talk about what decision in life he took. While doing so, he will sigh, either with relief that he made the right choice or with regret that he made the wrong choice. Whether right wrong, the choice will have had a significant impact on his life.
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| THE ROAD NOT TAKEN |
NCERT English Solution Class IX
THINKING ABOUT THE POEM
1. Where does the poet find himself? What problem does he face?
Answer: The traveller finds himself at the divergence of a path into two directions in a forest. He faces the problem to decide which path to take to continue his journey because it is not possible for him to travel in both directions at the same time.
2. Discuss what these phrases mean to you.
(i) a yellow wood.
Answer: 'Yellow wood' means the autumn season.
Autumn corresponds with old age. The poet could be symbolically talking about the later stages of life.
(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear.
Answer: This conveys that the path was full of grass and nobody had used it; so it was not worn out or it was used by less people.
(iii) the passing there
Answer: The use of the path by people passing through the forest.
(iv) leaves no step had trodden black
Answer: The leaves had not become black because of a w people stepping on them. This could symbolise a path one may have never/seldom taken in life for fear of uncertainty.
(v) how way leads on to way
Answer: This means how certain decisions one makes in life could pave the way for many other decisions.
3. Is there any difference between the two roads as the poet describes them
(i) in stanzas two and three?
Answer: In stanza two, the poet explains that the only difference between the two roads was that the road he took had the better right to be chosen because it was covered with grass and looked as if it had not been much used. However, at the end of the stanza, he says that both roads had been almost equally worn down by people walking on them. However, in stanza three, he says that on that morning both the roads were equally covered with leaves and that no person had stepped on them.
(ii) in the last two lines of the poem?
Answer: However, in the last two lines of the poem the poet says that there was a difference between the two roads because he took the road that was less travelled by and that made all the difference to his journey.
4. What do you think the last two lines of the poem mean? (Looking back, does the poet regret his choice or accept it?)
Answer: The last two lines of the poem means the acceptance of reality. The poet made a choice and accepted the challenging path. He took an unexplored path in his life. He wanted to do something different in his life so he chose the less travelled road. No, he does not regret his choice.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:
1. Describe the two paths that the poet finds. Which road did he choose?
Answer: The poet comes across a path splitting into two in the middle of a forest. One path is well used, whereas the other one does not appear to be so at first glance. This, herefore, looks more promising to him and so he decides to take the second one.
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| DIVERGENT ROADS |
2. Why did the poet think that the other road had a better claim? What trait of his personality is revealed by his choice?
Answer: The poet thought that the road had a better claim because it was not much used. He is reluctant to follow the tradition of using the same road that other people had previously used. This reveals him to be an adventurous person.
3. What do the two roads represent?
Answer: The roads represent the dilemma a person faces having to make a decision. The results of taking a decision one way or the other usually are different. The decision affects further events related to it.
4. What does the poet promise himself, although he knows he can't keep his promise?
Answer: The poet promise himself that he would come back some other time and take the often travelled road, although knowing that he won't be able to keep his promise. It is because, once a decision is taken, it leads to other decisions. He knows that he will not be able to come back and change his decision.
5. What is the significance of the fact that the road 'bent undergrowth'?
Answer: The bend in the undergrowth obstructs the vision of the traveller and he can't see where the road leads. This image expresses the idea that the future is unknown, mysterious and surprising; one can't know what it will bring.
6. The poet takes a long time to make his decision. What is he thinking about?
Answer: The poet knows making the right choice is very important. He wants to choose the road that is the best for him but he is not sure which one is that. Each time he looks at the two diverging paths, they look different.
7. "I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference."
What is the speaker saying here?
Answer: The speaker is saying here that whatever choice we make in life influences what our life will be like, for better or for worse, as our choices influence our future life.
8. "Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back."
What does the poet mean here?
Answer: The poet here means that when you make decisions, one decision leads to another and you can't change it. One decision takes you in one direction and you can't go back.
9. Why does the poet say "he will be telling this with a sigh / somewhere ages and ages hence"?
Answer: When the speaker looks back at his life and the decisions he made, he may be sorry or happy about his decisions or about the roads he took. these might be sighs of satisfaction or regret. he is thinking back and reflects on his decisions in life.
10. How does
the poet connect nature to the human situation in the poem?
Answer: The poem starts by describing a wood during the autumn season.
The wood has a path diverging into two which the poet comes across. The poet
talks about which road to choose. The choice of roads connects to the human
situation where people have to make decisions in life. They do not know what
the future will be on taking a certain decision. This is a dilemma that people
face regularly in life. Sometimes one decision leads to another and so it is
impossible to retrace your steps.
11. Do you agree that the poem 'The Road Not taken'
is about regret? Why or why not? Support your answer with information from the
poem.
Answer: I agree that the poem is about regret
because the poem tells us that, if you choose one thing you have to give up
something else and that makes you feel sorry. We can see this by the title of
the poem, which talks about ‘The Road Not Taken’, meaning that the speaker is
sorry about something he did not do. It can also be regret because the poet
would never know what he had missed by not taking the other road.
12. How is the theme of the poem ‘The Road Not
Taken’ applicable to our lives?
Answer: Decision-making plays an important role in
our lives. Making a decision is not always easy, as we do not know whether ant
decision taken will be beneficial to us in the long run or not. Yet we have to
make decisions which we cannot retract from. As we cannot go back and change
our decisions, we have to be very wise and careful while making any decision.
So we must visualize the possible consequences of our decisions and then make
the decision that looks the best as far as possible.
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