when would the second road become like the first one?
the road not taken
Answers
AnswEr :-
The poem's fork in the road is often taken as a symbol for a place in our lives where we have to make a decision. This speaker made a less conventional decision and is happy he did so.
He picks the road that has more grass on it and is less worn down with human footsteps. It is the road that fewer people have walked on, and this aspect of it attracts him. He prefers to go where not so many people have been.
He says at the end of the poem that he took the road "less travelled" and states that this choice has made all the difference to him.
Poem :-
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, 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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
How to analyse a poem ?
Understanding the speaker is at the center of a poem may help the piece appear more tangible to students because they’re able to imagine a person behind the language. Questions to consider are:
- Who “tells” the poem?
- Does the poem give any clues about the speaker’s personality, the point of view, age, or gender?
- Who is the speaker addressing?
- Does the speaker seem attached or detached from what is said?