If we find success, the choice is the right one but if the result is failure and pain then the choice has obviously not been the right one. It is only after the passage of years, that we can really evaluate the decisions and choices that we make based on the result of these choices. We can interpret the narrator’s choice of a road as a symbol for any choice in life between alternatives that appear almost equally attractive. The poem is about something more than the choice of paths in a wood. Either it is a sigh of happiness and contentment at having achieved success in life because of the right choices ihade at the right time or it could be interpreted to mean that the sigh is one of regret and sorrow at having made the wrong choice and lost out on a golden opportunity.īring out the symbolism in the poem “The Road Not Taken”. He is not sure if his choice has been the right one and feels that if someone asks him to justify his choice he would probably answer him with a sigh. He is however wishful of walking on the other road on some other day. The poet comes to a fork in the road and decides to walk on the path that looks less walked on. Why does the poet say he shall tell people “this with a sigh”? Why do you think the final stanza starts with a sigh? He chooses the road not travelled on by too many people and many years later, he feels that all the difference in his life is because of the choice of roads he had made. He would have liked to explore both the roads, but he knows that he can’t walk on both the roads at the same time. Yes, it is apt because the title of the poem concerns a choice made between two roads by a person walking in the woods. The Road Not Taken Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Typeĭiscuss the title of the poem “The Road Not Taken”. The poet means to relay to the readers that both the roads that diverged in a yellow wood seemed similar and both of them looked as if they had not been used for a while. What does the poet mean when he says,-‘worn them really about the same’? Though he is tempted to walk on both, he decides to take the second path with the intention of walking on the first one sometime in future. One of the roads looks more frequented by people while the second road appears to be less travelled on. Perhaps the poet refers to his choice of profession as a poet and his sailing to England (in 1912) leaving behind the safe but beaten tracks of his motherland where he could have led a happy and contented life of a farmer.Does one road seem to be more appealing than the other? Use examples from the poem to support your answer.Īt first the narrator comes to a fork in the road and is not able to decide which path to take. His statement ‘this has made all the difference’ is a sort of confession of repentant, hesitation, and sighing.

The speaker doesn’t seem happy because he regrets having taken up the second road. The two roads depict the confusion, in spite of making a choice one is never content and feels may be the other choice was better. To think off the beaten track always pays and makes the difference. Very few dare to take up challenges and choose a less traveled road.

Hence, they often follow the less risky and more acceptable decisions.

Generally, people are confused when they have to make a choice because it has far-reaching consequences. Though his decision to take the less-traveled road has made all the difference. The man then says that he will be telling with a ‘ sigh‘ someday in the future, still thinking what life would have been if he had chosen the more traveled road. Though he is not sure if ever again he would pass by it because one road leads to another and leaves no chance to change one’s decision, so he won’t get a chance to go back. He chooses the less traveled, grassy road because it needs wear and leaves the other road for some other day. The man stands there contemplating, and feels sad that he is unable to travel on both roads as both of them seem to be rewarding. The two roads in fact represent two alternative ways of life. The poet uses the fork in the road as a metaphor for the choices a person makes in life. It tells about a man who comes to a fork, in the road he is traveling upon. The poet’s experience becomes symbolic of human experience in all ages and countries. It is a great lyric that records a personal experience of the poet, but from the personal and the individual the poet soon rises to the universal and the general.

The road not taken answer key