Understanding Poetry:

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

 



 

Introducing your reading companions...

We are here to help you read and understand Robert Frost's poetry. You'll find us waiting for you at the bottom of each page. Click on us for help.

 



Table of Contents

 

 

  1. The Road Not Taken       ... 4
  2. Metaphor                           ... 5
  3. Close Reading                   ... 7
  4. Theme                                 ... 8
  5. Further Reading                ... 11

    ♦ Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening          ... 12

    ♦ The Pasture                 ... 13

    ♦ Never Again Would Bird's Song Be the Same      ... 14

 

 

 



 

The Road Not Taken

 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;       
 
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,

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.        
 
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.       

 

Read the poem carefully.

Choose from one of the following options:

1) You may choose to read the poem on your own--aloud or silently.

2) You may partner up with a friend and read the poem to each other.  

3) If you would like to watch Robert Frost reciting his poem, click here for a video.

4) If you are musically-inclined, you may choose to listen to the choral arrangement of Frost's poem. Pay careful attention to the lyrics. You may access a video of the performance here. (Music by Dale E. Victorian. Performed by the San Jose Symphonic Choir.)  

 


What is a Metaphor?

In order to fully appreciate "The Road Not Taken," we need to understand what a metaphor is. A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.

We use metaphors everyday! You probably used one today. For instance, calling a person a "night owl" or an "early bird" is an example of a metaphor.

Some metaphors are used so often that we don’t even think about it as a metaphor. For example:

Life is a journey.

The world is a stage.

Love is a battlefield.

 

 



 

Metaphor




Close reading

When you read a poem, read each line carefully and try to understand the meaning behind the words.   

SEARCH for HIDDEN meaning!

Now let's do a close reading of "The Road Not Taken." The poet says that he is "sorry [that he] could not travel both." And he tries very hard to "[look] down one as far as [he] could." What is symbolized by this action? Is there no turning back once he chooses one road?

 



 

The Theme of Non-Conformity

 

What do you think is the theme of the poem? What is the author's main point?   

Some critics say that non-conformity is the main theme. Do you agree? Can you find any evidence of this in the text?



 

The Theme of Regret 

 

Some critics, however, think that

the main theme of the poem is

regret. After all, the title of the

poem is "The Road Not Taken."

 

Read the poem again.

Can you suggest some lines that

show that the theme of the poem is

regret?

 

 



The Fear of Regret

Some critics say that the theme is actually the fear of regret. They argue that "The Road Not Taken" is full of the poet’s fear.

 

Do you detect the poet's fear of regret in the following lines? 

 

♦ “I doubted if I should ever come back.”

♦ “And sorry I could not travel both.”

 


 

Further Reading

 

For those of you who are feeling adventurous,

here are more poems by Robert Frost.



 

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

 Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

 

Note

Once again, for the musically-inclined, here's a choral rendering of Frost's poem, performed by Musaic.

 



 

The Pasture

 I’m going out to clean the pasture spring; 
I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away 
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may): 
I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.  
 

I’m going out to fetch the little calf          
That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young, 
It totters when she licks it with her tongue. 
I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.

 

Note

You can listen to a choral rendering of "The Pasture" here. (Music by Z. Randall Stroope; Performed by Honor Chorale of Alvarado High School, Alvarado, Texas)

 

 

 



 

Never Again Would Bird's Song Be the Same 


He would declare and could himself believe
That the birds there in all the garden round
From having heard the daylong voice of Eve
Had added to their own an oversound,
Her tone of meaning but without the words.
Admittedly an eloquence so soft
Could only have had an influence on birds
When call or laughter carried it aloft.
Be that as may be, she was in their song.
Moreover her voice upon their voices crossed
Had now persisted in the woods so long
That probably it never would be lost.
Never again would birds' song be the same.
And to do that to birds was why she came. 


 


 

 Finis.

 


 

This e-book was created by Ashley Lee as a class assignment for T-560.