The Road Not Taken Sanmin B4L12 Worksheet – Imagery – Robert Frost – Personality & poems Chant: 詩歌是用聽的，不是用眼睛看的 Group competition (optional)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, “ Two roads ” symbolizes? – Choices in life – Dilemma in life The forked road is compared to choices in life or decision making in critical moment. How about yellow wood? What can be inferred? Why yellow but not other color? Where (in the following stanza) can we find the clue?

Universal questions of life Line32-40 & Line55-60 Feel confused: Am I right? In a dilemma: freedom vs. duty ethics vs. peer pressure Unable to make a decision / afraid of getting hurt Face major life ritual: teenage  adulthood  fatherhood/motherhood

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; “ Traveler ” : -Everyone is travelling in the life journey. Why did the narrator stop ( “ long I stood ” )? -Think twice before acting. -Feel hesitant about his next move. -Be prudent and cautious about the choice. “Look down as far as I could”: -hope to predict the consequence of his choice Repetition: adding musical quality What does “ bent ” imply? -Every change or decision in our life -Every turning point (which may make a difference) “ Traveler ” : -Everyone is travelling in the life journey. Why did the narrator stop ( “ long I stood ” )? -Think twice before acting. -Feel hesitant about his next move. -Be prudent and cautious about the choice. “Look down as far as I could”: -hope to predict the consequence of his choice Repetition: adding musical quality What does “ bent ” imply? -Every change or decision in our life -Every turning point (which may make a difference)

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Suddenly, I made a different decision, because the second road was just as fair as the first one. Or rather, this is more recommendable, desirable, or appealing to me. What exactly did the narrator consider the second road? – Uncertain but hope to challenge Can road claim?! – Personification Implied meaning: grassy; wanted wear – Loneliness – Needed to be understood

Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same, “ that ” : the condition of the two roads What is inferred? Why did the narrator say so? – 是否兩條路最終殊途同歸呢 ? – We are afraid of different outcome, unexpected expectation. Give an example of yours – 學測與指考 – 去社團團練跟去補習班補帶 Implied meaning: equally Leaves: autumn 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. Everyone has equal chance to choose, and that is the freedom we are granted. However, once making the decision, we shouldn ’ t feel regret. We must learn to take responsibility. That is life.

The speaker finally made the decision. He chose the second one! “ I doubted if ” – Self-awareness: ( 心中早已明白 ) 回不去了 !( 選了就 不要再後悔，人生就是如此。 ) – Though feeling doubtful of the future uncertainty, the speaker realized that s/he couldn ’ t regret once the decision was made. Implied meaning: how way leads on to way – Chain reaction – What you are today is the result of a series of chain reactions, or the accumulation of your choices/decisions.

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. Why “ sigh ”? – Either relief or regret – 好與不好應由自己來定與承擔 The choice/decision made at that moment ( 一念之間 ) has made all the difference. Whether it is good or not, we all have to take the consequence.

『沒有走的路』 What is inferred? The road not taken vs. the road the narrator actually took “ Poetry should contain contrasts and lead to a clarifying of experience. ” 有得必有失，有捨方有得。 Though I didn ’ t take the first road (taken by most people), I can also feel good on another different road (, which is not taken by most people).

人生之美， 在於對自己的選擇無怨無悔 !