The Road not Taken – Important Questions

Important Question and Answers

Q. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

Then took the other, 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.

1. Name the poem and the poet.
2. Identify the line from the given extract that describes the road that the poet took ?
3. What does ‘the other’ refer to ?
4. What is the antonym for the word ‘fair’ ?
5. Which expression means that nobody walked on the road taken by the poet ?

Answer

1. The poem is ‘The road not taken’ by Robert Frost.
2. ‘Because it was grassy and wanted wear;’
3. ‘The other’ refers to the road that the poet took.
4. Unfair
5. ‘wanted wear’ is the expression which means that nobody walked on the road taken by the poet.

Q. Read the extracts given below and answers the questions that follow:

Two roads diverged in yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And locked down once as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

1. At which point in the woods, the poet had reached?
2. Why was the traveller feeling sorry?
3. Where did the first road lead to?
4. Give the opposite to ‘met at a point’ from the passage?
5. At what point did the roads diverge?
6. At what point did one road lead to?
7. Was the traveller feeling sorry?
8. What does ‘yellow wood’ stand for?

Answer

1. The poet is standing at a point where two roads diverged in the yellow wood.
2. The poet is feeling sorry because he could not travel on both the roads.
3. dense forest
4. diverged
5. The roads diverged in the yellow wood.
6. The first road led to dense growth of plants and animals.
7. Yes, the traveller was feeling sorry.
8. autumn season

Q. Read the extracts given below and answers the questions that follow:

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden back Oh,
I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted it if I should ever come back

1. Which road does the poet choose?
2. Why was the poet doubtful about the first road?
3. In stanza ‘both’ refers to ____________.
4. Find a word from the extract that means ‘crushed’.

Answer

1. The poet chooses the second road.
2. He was very doubtful that he would never be able to come back to it.
3. two roads in different directions.
4. Trodden.

Q. Read the extracts given below and answers the questions that follow:

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

1. The antonym for the word, ‘leads’ is __________.
2. What did the poet keep for some another day?
3. What is the doubt in the poet’s mind?
4. To whom ‘I’ is referred to in the stanza?

Answer

1. Follows
2. The poet kept the first road for another day that had been less travelled by others.
3. The poet doubts whether he will ever be able to travel on the first road again.
4. ‘I’ is referred to the poet Robert Frost.

Q. Why will the choice between two roads that seem very much alike, make such a big difference many years later in the life of the poet?

Ans. A choice between two roads that seem very much alike, will make such a big difference many years later in the poet’s life since this particular decision, the path opened up many different opportunities for him in future. The decision that he now makes, will influence him and his life along with his rest of the decisions, since the two roads are same, they still have varied options in them.

Q. After reading the poem, can you detail the tone in the entire poem?

Ans. The overall tone of the poem is of regret. The poet believes that at some time far in the future, he would still be thinking of his two possible paths ‘with a sigh’. He does not anticipate being any less conflicted then or any more satisfied with his choice. He realizes that his choice will make ‘all the difference’ in his life, but he is presently uncertain about what the difference would turn out to be.

Q. Was the poet doubtful or clear that he would return to take the other path which he could not take earlier?

Ans. Throughout the poem and the poet’s journey, he faces an archetypal dilemma. He doubts if he would ever be able to come back to take that other road which might have given him some other more lucrative options in life. The poet believes and we all know that one road leads to another, so going back to the original path is not easy.

Q. What would the poet tell after ages with a sigh?

Ans. After ages, the poet would tell the story of how two roads had diverged into the wood and he had taken the one less travelled. This decision to take the ‘road not taken’ had made all the difference in his life.

Q. Does the speaker feel that he has made the wrong choice in taking the road ‘less travelled by’? If not, why does he ‘sigh’? What does he regret?

Ans. No, the speaker does not feel that he has made a wrong decision by taking the less travelled road. The poet wanted to explore both the roads. He tells himself that he will explore one and then come back and explore the other, but he knows that he would probably be unable to do so.

Q. And that has made all the difference. What is your opinion of the difference — was it for the better or the worse? Substantiate your answer.

Ans. The poem does not clearly state whether the choice made by the poet made him happy or sad. However, if examined by the way of the world, we find that the individuals who have achieved recognition and fame have always eschewed the beaten track. Hence, we can reason that the poet – traveller was happy by choosing the less travelled path, not the beaten track. The concluding line of the poem — ‘And that has made all the difference’ connotes the poet’s joy.

Q. What do the two roads symbolize in the first stanza? What is the significance of choosing a road?

Ans. The two roads that the poet-traveller faces in his walk or journey are symbolic of the choices that we have to make in our life. The journey or a simple walk itself is a metaphor for the great journey of life whether one should adopt the way of spiritualism or materialism. In this poem, the poet, after prolonged thought, decides to take the road less travelled, road which is the road of spiritualism accepting its challenges and uncertainties. The decision is final and irreversible and it has its own consequences, may be positive or negative. In real life also, we confront such critical situations where we face life-altering options. The decision we make is crucial. We should contemplate over the choices before and then decide our priorities. Once, we make the decision and proceed accordingly, we can never reverse it. The life takes its own course and it does not give a second chance to alter our decision and change our course of life. Hence, we should decide wisely about the choices we make.