"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

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.

** Remember to write down words you don't know in your journal and find out the definition!

SOME DEFINITIONS:

diverged: to separate from another route and go in a different direction.

undergrowth: a growth of shrubs and other plants under trees.

hence: "for this reason..."

1. Imagery

What is imagery?

Imagery is a kind of figurative language that is very visually descriptive.

EXAMPLE:

"...it was grassy and wanted wear."

What is a diction?

The choice and use of words/phrases. When manipulating diction, people usually choose the word that gives the poet's target mood.

EXAMPLE:

"...trodden black."

The word 'black' gives us a visual idea of how old and trampled the leaves should be.

Questions to think/talk about:

What do you think the "two roads" represent? Why?
This poem has four stanzas. In poetry, a work with two stanzas is called a couplet. Three stanzas makes it a tercet. What do you think a poem with four stanzas is called?
What do you think about the imagery in the poem above?

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