Question

Why did the poet take long to ponder over his decision?
Class 9th "THE ROAD NOT TAKEN" (long answer)

Answer 1

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The narrator takes a long time because he is contemplating which road to take.

The narrator of the poem is comparing the decision of which road to take to other decisions that he has made in life. The reader is never told about what other specific decisions, but the implication is there.

"Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back."

With these lines, the speaker is providing past evidence to the reader. The evidence is that the speaker knows that more often than not, the act of making a decision to one option permanently shuts the door to the other option. That's why he doubts he'll ever come back.

The speaker takes a long time at the fork in the road, because he understands that the fork in the road is representative of so much more.

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Additional Information-

• In the philosophical poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by the modern American poet Robert Frost, the poet is suffering from a dilemma over the choices in his life.
• The poet expresses his feelings by stating that he is in a forest and there are two paths through it. One is the much used one followed by most of the travellers while the other is fresh as it is hardly used. Both appear to be promising and the poet ponders over which to take.
• Deeply, the poem relates to a serious philosophy of life. Often in life we are confronted with choices and it is very difficult to select one. The selection is very important as it will lead to our future success. The poet too was in a confusion of which profession to take, whether to risk all and pursue being a poet or to carry on his agricultural profession.    

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