The Road Not Taken

HisEminence
HisEminence Posts: 55
in Chit-Chat
The following Robert Frost poem is one of his most famous and one of his most moving...please read it. The questions will follow!

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 marked 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.

Questions for you:

1) Have you ever come to a metaphorical fork in the road and had to make a choice?

2) What was that choice?

3) Was it the right choice?

4) If you could go back in time, would you make the same decision? Why? or why not?

5) Why do you think Frost wrote this poem? What do you think was on his mind?

Replies

  • RDawn7
    RDawn7 Posts: 38
    I think that Robert Frost wrote this poem because he was at odds with his decision to move to England and leaving his homeland behind. It reflects the attitude that the "grass is always greener on the other side". I think he had to try the other side for him to grow as a person, even if it was eventually to realize that he wanted to come back to Amercia ( his home).
  • elenathegreat
    elenathegreat Posts: 3,988 Member
    1) Yes, many times.
    2) Usually to the right.
    3) My gut is always correct.
    4) I never look back...can't change history, so why agonize over it?
  • RunnerInVT
    RunnerInVT Posts: 226 Member
    Wow.....
  • srp2011
    srp2011 Posts: 1,829 Member
    1. More times than I can count
    2. It's always been the less conventional road less traveled...
    3. As I've gotten older, I've realized there's no such thing as a 'right' and 'wrong' choice, just choices that lead to different paths. Even the most blatantly 'wrong' choice can eventually lead to a path of incomparable beauty and achivement.
    4. I've often thought about where I would be if I had made different choices... I would be somewhere different, and it would have different pros and cons, but would be no better or worse, just different...
    5. He was probably having a reflective moent as most of us do about the different ways his life could have ended up...
  • slowturtle1
    slowturtle1 Posts: 284 Member

    1) Have you ever come to a metaphorical fork in the road and had to make a choice?

    2) What was that choice?

    3) Was it the right choice?

    4) If you could go back in time, would you make the same decision? Why? or why not?

    5) Why do you think Frost wrote this poem? What do you think was on his mind?

    1. Many, many times.
    2. ... Some were scary, some terrifying, some heartbreaking, some exciting...all of them difficult.
    3. Like srp, I don't necessarily believe in right or wrong choices, just choices, each one taking us in a certain direction. Some choices I made too spontaneously, without adequate forethought, choosing strictly from the heart, and some I agonized over, over-thinking and analyzing them so completely that they completely lacked emotion. As I've aged I've learned to use both my head and my heart. Choices are now less difficult to make and easier to live with, regardless of how they turn out.
    4. I wouldn't change any of my decisions even if I could because I believe each one has brought me to the life I have today. Perhaps other choices would have made a few things in my life better, but they could have also made many things worse. I'm happy with the way it is now and eager to see how it plays out from here.
    5. ... I was never good with those questions in English class. I prefer to enjoy what is written by connecting to it in my own way. How others are affected by a piece of writing is, I believe, more important than whatever the original purpose was for writing it.

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