Homework: the Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Name:______Period:__ Date:_____

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Robert Frost was born in 1874 and became one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century. The author of searching and often dark meditations on universal themes, he is a thoroughly modern poet in his use of language as it is actually spoken. Robert Frost lived and taught for many years in Massachusetts and Vermont, and died on January 29, 1963, in Boston.

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; 5

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 1 Had worn them really about the same, 0

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, 1 I doubted if I should ever come back. 5

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, 2 And that has made all the difference. 0

(Diverge: Move in different directions)

This poem is a metaphor for the choices one makes in life and not giving in to peer pressure. Remember that a journey or voyage can be symbolic of life. Knowing this, answer the following questions:

1. Is the speaker young or old? Why do you think this? 2. What does the road represent?

3. What does the reader have to choose?

4. What do the last two lines explain? Rephrase the last two lines into your own words.

5. In stanza one, why did the author stand there a long time?

6. In stanza one, why did the road bend?

7. In stanza two, what does he mean by “wanted wear?”

8. In stanza three, why didn’t he think he could come back and take the other road?

9. In the last stanza, what difference is he referring to?

10. Opinion: Is this a good poem? Why or why not?