A poem by Robert Frost, covering the syllabus of CBSE Class IX Poetry, and also the syllabus of many state boards.

1. The Road Not Taken
A Poem by: Robert Frost
A PowerPoint presentation by: Mrinal Ghosh, PGT (English)
Directorate of Secondary Education, Govt. of Tripura, India

2. About Robert Frost:
Birthday: March, 26, 1874
• Died At Age: 88
• Born in: San Francisco, California,, United States
• Famous As: Poet
• Spouse/Ex-: Elinor Miriam White
• Father: William Prescott Frost Jr.
• Mother: Isabelle Moodie
• Died On: January 29, 1963
• Place Of Death: Boston, Massachusetts,, United States

3. An introduction:
Many times in our life, we have two more things to choose
from. All those things look equally good or attractive. The
choice is difficult to make. But a choice has to be made.
Our decision makes all the difference in our life. It affects
our future.

4. About the poem:
• While walking, the speaker arrives at a place where “Two roads
diverged in a yellow wood.”
• The speaker evaluates the two paths. One appears less trodden one,
but further inspection reveals that they are “really about the same.”
• He chooses the second path, having “kept the first for another day,” but
he quickly acknowledges that he will never come back.
• He reflects that one day he will tell this story “with a sigh” and declares
that he “took the road less travelled by, / And that has made all the
difference,” even though the two roads are identical.

5. Summary of the Poem:
The poet while travelling on foot in the woods reaches a junction where two roads diverge
and he has to choose one among them He stands there for long. Then he decides to choose
the road, which was grassy and needed ‘to wear’. He feels this choice will make all the
difference to his future life. He decides to try the other road, some other time, knowing fully
well that he will not get a chance to go back to it. Later he wishes that he had taken the other
road. This is the irony of life, we cannot travel on all the available roads, no matter
howsoever we may wish to.
The poet feels that after ages from now he would be looking at this decision with a ‘sigh’. He
would tell that since he had taken the road less travelled, it made all the difference.
Thus the poet speaks of the basic problems of making the right choice. Many alternatives
are available at the time of choice but man has to select one. It is only the future that will
reveal, whether the decision is wrong or not. After taking decisions we cannot undo them, we
can only regret them. Even if we wish, we cannot start all over again.

6. Stanzawise Summary:
Stanza 1:
On the road of life, the speaker arrives at a point where he
must decide which of two equally appealing choices is the
better one. He examines one choice as best he can, but the
future prevents him from seeing where it leads.

7. Two roads diverged…..
• As

8. Stanzawise summary…
Stanza 2:
The speaker selects the road that appears at first glance to
be less worn and therefore less traveled. This selection
suggests that he has an independent spirit and does not
wish to follow the crowd. After a moment, he concludes that
both roads are about equally worn.

9. Stanzawise summary…
Stanza 3:
Leaves cover both roads equally. No one on this morning
has yet taken either road, for the leaves lie undisturbed.
The speaker remains committed to his decision to take the
road he had previously selected, saying that he will save
the other road for another day. He observes, however, that
he probably will never pass this way again and thus will
never have an opportunity to take the other road.

10. Stanzawise summary…
Stanza 4:
In years to come, the speaker says, he will be telling others
about the choice he made. While doing so, he will sigh
either with relief that he made the right choice or with regret
that he made the wrong choice. Whether right or wrong, the
choice will have had a significant impact on his life.

11. Moral of the poem…
This is an inspirational poem and quite tricky, according to Robert Frost himself. The
poem presents an antithesis. The traveller comes to a fork and wishes to take both,
which is impossible. One of the roads is described as /;[[ grassy and ‘wanting wear’,
then he says that both the roads look the same. This represents the eternal dilemma
of man : he finds the grass greener always on the other side. This poem is a call for
the reader to forge his or her way in life and not follow the path that others have
taken. This poem encourages self-reliance, reinforces the power of independent
thinking and sticking to one’s decisions. The poet does not moralise about choice, he
simply says that choice is inevitable and you will never know till you have lived the
‘difference’. So there is nothing right or wrong about a choice, it is all relative.
Whatever direction one takes one must pack it with determination and zest for one
can never turn the clock back, or relive that moment.

12. About
• As
The End