The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost Introduction Look at the image below: Imagine you coming upon this fork in the road while on a walk. You have no map, no GPS, no smartphone, no compass. Which road would you take? Discuss your decision with a partner. Development You are going to read a poem called ‘The Road Not Taken’ by an American poet named Robert Frost. The last two lines of the poem read, I took the one __________________________________ And that has made all the difference. How do you think the first line ends? Discuss your choice with a partner, then as a class. Now read the full poem on the next page. Some words have been deleted. Guess what the words are and write your choice in the blank space. Use the poem’s rhyming scheme (A, B, A, A, B) to help. © Education Umbrella, 2015 1 The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And ______________ 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 _______________, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden ________________. 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 ________________ 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. Discuss your answers with a partner. Your teacher will now distribute copies of the original poem. Read it individually, then aloud as a class. Did you guess any words correctly? Understanding the poem Answer the questions, quoting lines of the poem to support your answer. 1) What time of year is it? © Education Umbrella, 2015 2 2) Are the two roads very different? 3) Is the speaker planning to return? 4) How does the speaker feel about having to make a choice? 5) On what basis does the speaker finally make a choice? Interpretation Robert Frost wrote this poem for a friend, the English poet Edward Thomas. During his four years in England from 1912 to 1915, Frost took many country walks with Thomas. He noticed that Thomas often thought long and hard when making even a simple decision. To Frost’s consternation, many people assume there is a deeper meaning to the poem. Thomas certainly did. In fact, he thought the poem was Frost’s way of teasing him about his indecision over whether to join the army and fight in the Great War. Shortly after reading the poem, Thomas enlisted in the army. Two years later he was killed in the Battle of Arras in France. Activity Do you know somebody who is very indecisive? If not, imagine such a person. Picture an everyday scene in which your subject is presented with a simple choice between two almost identical options. Write a poem in which your indecisive person considers the choice and justifies his or her eventual decision. Use the same structure and rhyming scheme as Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’. © Education Umbrella, 2015 3