Question

where were the roads in equal state that morning? From the poem "The Road Not Taken"​

Answer 1

Answer:

Homework Help > The Road Not Taken

What do these lines mean: "And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black"?

print Print 

document PDF list Cite

Asked on February 24, 2016 at 2:26 PM byuser9094034

like 1dislike 0

2 Answers



favoritethings | High School Teacher| (Level 3) Senior Educator

Posted on February 24, 2016 at 2:50 PM

These lines mean that, of the two roads the narrator is considering, neither one is more or less traveled than the other. At that moment, "that morning," when he is trying to decide which one to take, the roads have been "equally" traveled, and he can tell because no one has walked on the leaves to turn them dark with mud or dirt.

Each road symbolizes a choice; the narrator has two choices. The lines, "And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black," repeat the idea -- stated earlier in the poem -- that the roads, though they look a bit different from one another (one is grassier than the other), have been traveled the same number of times (by other people). The narrator has already said that the second road was "just as fair" as the first (6). Moreover, he says that "[...] the passing there / Had worn them really about the same" (9-10).  In other words, when he says, at the end of the poem, that he will later tell people that "[He] took the [road] less traveled [...]," he will be lying (19). There is no road less traveled; they are each traveled the same.

Explanation

Answer 2

Answer:

In the morning the roads were in the same condition as no one has stepped on it. Nothing much differentiates them aside from that one is less traveled than the other, simply meaning that less people have walked upon....

At that moment, "that morning," when he is trying to decide which one to take, the roads have been "equally" traveled, and he can tell because no one has walked on the leaves to turn them dark with mud or dirt. Each road symbolizes a choice; the narrator has two choices.