”The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost Presented to Alla Soloviev

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood ,and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler“ The speaker is describing a fork in the road. The woods are yellow, which means that it is fall, and the leaves are turning colors. He is sorry about the fact that he could not travel both roads at the same time. So he has to choose one road.

“Long I stood and I looked down one as far as I could And to where it bent on the undergrowth” The traveler says that he looks down as far as he can on both of the roads. However, he cannot see the whole road. He stares down one road, trying to see where it goes. But he can only see up to the first bend, where the undergrowth, the small plants and greenery of the woods, blocks his view. In this stanza the traveler talks about his future that he cannot see.

“Then took the other, as just a fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear” However, the traveler takes the other road because nobody has stepped on it before. His arguments are: it is grassy and does not look worn.

“Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same“ The speaker of this poem really can't seem to make up his mind! Just when we think we've got a declaration about which path is better, he changes his mind and admits that maybe they were equal after all. The traveler says that even though people passed there the roads look in the same way.

“And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black” Here, again, we hear that the paths are equal, but we find out something new, that it's morning. It's possible that our speaker is the first to travel to this place on that day. The traveler says that the paths are covered with leaves, which are yellow and haven't been turned black by steps crushing them.

The speaker seems like he's already regretting his decision. He says “Oh, I kept the first for another day!” The speaker seems like he's already regretting his decision. He says that he'll come back to the path he missed later. So he keeps this first road for other day.

“Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back” The traveler says that the road will take him too far, so he doubts that he would ever be able to come back. In other words, the speaker realizes that his hopes to come back and try the other path may be foolish.

”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” In years to come, the speaker says, he will be telling others about the choice he made. While doing so, he will sigh either with relief that he made the right choice or with regret that he made the wrong choice.

“And that has made all the difference” At first glance it seems that this line is triumphant – the speaker took the path that no one else used, and that is what has made the difference in his life that made him successful. But he doesn't say that it made him successful – we can read this line positively, but it could also have a negative meaning. A "difference" could mean success, or utter failure.

Poetry Definition – Writing in language chosen and arranged to create a particular emotional response through meaning, sound and rhythm. “Poetry can communicate before it is understood” (T.S. Eliot) “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words” (Frost)

Choice & Cost Every choice you make has a cost because choosing to do one thing means giving up the opportunity to do something else. Faced with the same options , different people make different choices because each person has his / her own way of making decisions based on different values and beliefs. When faced with the need to make a decision we try to think about the cost and guess the outcome.

Analysis and Literary Terms What is the poem about ? The poem is about a dilemma, the need to come to a decision / solve a problem This is the theme of the poem Theme – the central philosophical idea of a story or poem. We can usually find the theme by asking ourselves – what is the poem / story about?

What do the roads symbolize ? The roads = options or ways of life Is the speaker really standing in a forest thinking which way to go? What do the roads symbolize ? The roads = options or ways of life Symbolism - the use of a concrete image (symbol) to represent an abstract idea.

What is the main dilemma in the poem? The speaker is at a fork in the road – he has to choose which way to go. The fork in the road is a metaphor for a point in life when you need to make a choice. A metaphor is a type of comparison in which one thing is described as if it was something else (example: life is a box of chocolates)

How does the speaker solve his dilemma? He compares the two roads He weighs the pros and cons He tries to foresee the future Which road does he choose? the less traveled by The more adventurous / the less conventional ??

HOTS – Problem Solving Problem solving is a thinking skill the involves: Identifying the problem Considering the options Weighing the pros and cons of each option Reaching a decision How do you think the speaker feels about his choice ? Last stanza takes place in the future Sigh of relief ? Sigh of regret ? The “what if ??”

Robert Frost 1874-1963 Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California but spent most of his life in New England, a rural area in the north east of the United States. The area is characterized by hills, woods, farms and small towns. Frost himself worked for many years as a farmer, in addition to teaching English and writing poems. His poems reflect the sights and sounds of where he lived, the fields, farms and woods and scenes of everyday life. All those elements make Frost’s poems accessible, leading readers to understand the deeper truths behind seemingly simple ideas.