Question 2.
Complete the web chart showing choices and decisions you may have to make in the next few years and the factors that affect these choices:
Share your choices and decisions with your partner.
Complete the web chart showing choices and decisions you may have to make in the next few years and the factors that affect these choices:
Share your choices and decisions with your partner.
Answer:
Question 3.
Have you made choices that are acceptable and less ‘risky’ or have you followed the beaten track? Why?
Question 3.
Have you made choices that are acceptable and less ‘risky’ or have you followed the beaten track? Why?
Answer:
I know I am a student of just above average intellect and skills. I am not extraordinary or unique. Hence, I prefer to make choices that are ‘acceptable’ and less ‘risky’. I can’t afford to be very innovative and adventurous.
Question 4.
List common dilemmas that teenagers face involving the choice of one or more “roads”. Give examples of “roads” that you must travel (e.g. facing peer pressure, choosing friends, observing rules laid down by school and parents, acting on your own values).
I know I am a student of just above average intellect and skills. I am not extraordinary or unique. Hence, I prefer to make choices that are ‘acceptable’ and less ‘risky’. I can’t afford to be very innovative and adventurous.
Question 4.
List common dilemmas that teenagers face involving the choice of one or more “roads”. Give examples of “roads” that you must travel (e.g. facing peer pressure, choosing friends, observing rules laid down by school and parents, acting on your own values).
Answer:
The teenagers do face common dilemmas involving the choice of one or more “roads”. The common dilemmas that most of the teenagers face in life are:
(a) facing peer pressure
(b) choosing the right kind of friends
(c) observing rules laid down by school and parents
(d) following the instructions of the parents
(e) choosing the right profession
(f) following the right moral and social values
(g) choosing appropriate clothes and shoes In all these common dilemmas, I want to opt for ‘safer’ and ‘less risky’ options.
Question 5.
(a) Listen to a recording of the poem.
(b) What choice did the poet have to make?
(c) Did he regret his choice? Why/why not?
The teenagers do face common dilemmas involving the choice of one or more “roads”. The common dilemmas that most of the teenagers face in life are:
(a) facing peer pressure
(b) choosing the right kind of friends
(c) observing rules laid down by school and parents
(d) following the instructions of the parents
(e) choosing the right profession
(f) following the right moral and social values
(g) choosing appropriate clothes and shoes In all these common dilemmas, I want to opt for ‘safer’ and ‘less risky’ options.
Question 5.
(a) Listen to a recording of the poem.
(b) What choice did the poet have to make?
(c) Did he regret his choice? Why/why not?
Answer:
(a) Do it yourself.
(b) The poet faced a genuine dilemma. ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.’Naturally, he couldn’t travel both. He stood there in confusion which one he should leave and which one he should follow. Both of them were equally beautiful. At last, he made a choice. He left the first one for another day. He chose the other road as it was ‘grassy’ and ‘wanted wear’.
(c) The poet regrets his choice. Had he chosen the other road, perhaps all his ambitions in life might have been fulfilled. Hence, he sighs with a sense of dissatisfaction.
Question 6.
See textbook on page 65.
(a) Do it yourself.
(b) The poet faced a genuine dilemma. ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.’Naturally, he couldn’t travel both. He stood there in confusion which one he should leave and which one he should follow. Both of them were equally beautiful. At last, he made a choice. He left the first one for another day. He chose the other road as it was ‘grassy’ and ‘wanted wear’.
(c) The poet regrets his choice. Had he chosen the other road, perhaps all his ambitions in life might have been fulfilled. Hence, he sighs with a sense of dissatisfaction.
Question 6.
See textbook on page 65.
Answer:
Do it yourself.
Question 7.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice:
Do it yourself.
Question 7.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice:
(a) In the poem, a traveller comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. Figuratively the choice of the road denotes __________.
(i) the tough choices people make on the road of life.
(ii) the time wasted on deciding what to do.
(iii) life is like a forest.
(iv) one must travel a lot to realise his dreams.
(i) the tough choices people make on the road of life.
(ii) the time wasted on deciding what to do.
(iii) life is like a forest.
(iv) one must travel a lot to realise his dreams.
Answer:
(i) the tough choices people make on the road of life.
(b) The poet writes, ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.’ The word diverged means ________.
(i) appeared
(ii) curved
(iii) branched off
(iv) continued on
(i) the tough choices people make on the road of life.
(b) The poet writes, ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.’ The word diverged means ________.
(i) appeared
(ii) curved
(iii) branched off
(iv) continued on
Answer:
(iii) branched off
(c) The tone of the speaker in the first stanza is that of
(i) excitement
(ii) anger
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
(iv) sorrow
(iii) branched off
(c) The tone of the speaker in the first stanza is that of
(i) excitement
(ii) anger
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
(iv) sorrow
Answer:
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
Question 8.
Answer the following questions briefly:
(i) Describe the two roads that the author comes across.
(ii) Which road does the speaker choose? Why?
(iii) Which road would you choose? Why?
(iv) Does the speaker seem happy about his decision?
(v) The poet says “I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.” What is ‘the difference’ that the poet mentions?
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
Question 8.
Answer the following questions briefly:
(i) Describe the two roads that the author comes across.
(ii) Which road does the speaker choose? Why?
(iii) Which road would you choose? Why?
(iv) Does the speaker seem happy about his decision?
(v) The poet says “I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.” What is ‘the difference’ that the poet mentions?
Answer:
(i) The poet sees two roads diverging in a yellow wood. Perhaps it was autumn and both the roads were covered with dead or fallen yellow leaves. The first one went down in ‘the undergrowth’ of the forest. The other road was equally beautiful, grassy and ‘wanted wear’. It was less frequented by than the first.
(ii) The poet had to come out of the dilemma as he couldn’t travel on both the roads at the same time. He left the first one for the other day. He chose the second road which had been less travelled by and ‘wanted wear’. It was equally fair, grassy and covered with yellow leaves.
(iii) I would choose the second road. I am a young man with great ability to face challenges and adventures that come in life. The untrodden road would give me opportunities to come across several new adventures which I like the most.
(iv) The speaker doesn’t seem to be happy about his decision. Whether the choice is right or wrong can’t be decided on the spur of the moment. Only after ‘ages and ages’ he will realise the mistake that he made years ago. He will be ‘telling with a sigh’ to others that it was not a wise decision. Two roads diverged in a wood and he ‘took the one less travelled by’. The roads are fascinating metaphors for life. The choice has made all the difference in his life.
(v) The poet says “I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference”. The difference is that he did not choose that way of life which most people generally choose to get easy success, fame and money in life. On the other hand, he chose the road that was “less travelled by”. It was certainly risky and adventurous to choose such a road. Perhaps, he means that he chose to be a poet and sacrificed other convenient traditional and more lucrative professions. To be a poet, perhaps, turned out to be a risky and adventurous choice. Perhaps he realised it ‘ages and ages’ after he had made the decision.
Question 9.
Write the rhyme scheme of the poem.
(i) The poet sees two roads diverging in a yellow wood. Perhaps it was autumn and both the roads were covered with dead or fallen yellow leaves. The first one went down in ‘the undergrowth’ of the forest. The other road was equally beautiful, grassy and ‘wanted wear’. It was less frequented by than the first.
(ii) The poet had to come out of the dilemma as he couldn’t travel on both the roads at the same time. He left the first one for the other day. He chose the second road which had been less travelled by and ‘wanted wear’. It was equally fair, grassy and covered with yellow leaves.
(iii) I would choose the second road. I am a young man with great ability to face challenges and adventures that come in life. The untrodden road would give me opportunities to come across several new adventures which I like the most.
(iv) The speaker doesn’t seem to be happy about his decision. Whether the choice is right or wrong can’t be decided on the spur of the moment. Only after ‘ages and ages’ he will realise the mistake that he made years ago. He will be ‘telling with a sigh’ to others that it was not a wise decision. Two roads diverged in a wood and he ‘took the one less travelled by’. The roads are fascinating metaphors for life. The choice has made all the difference in his life.
(v) The poet says “I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference”. The difference is that he did not choose that way of life which most people generally choose to get easy success, fame and money in life. On the other hand, he chose the road that was “less travelled by”. It was certainly risky and adventurous to choose such a road. Perhaps, he means that he chose to be a poet and sacrificed other convenient traditional and more lucrative professions. To be a poet, perhaps, turned out to be a risky and adventurous choice. Perhaps he realised it ‘ages and ages’ after he had made the decision.
Question 9.
Write the rhyme scheme of the poem.
Answer:
The rhyme scheme of the poem is : ab, aa, b.
Question 10.
Fill in the blanks to complete the following paragraph that gives the theme of the poem. Use the words given in the box below:
The poem “ The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is about the 1. that one makes in life. It tells about a man who comes to a 2. in the road he is travelling upon. He feels 3. that he cannot travel 4. paths as he must choose one. Frost uses this fork in the road to represent a point in the man’s life where he has to choose the 5. he wishes to take in life. As he thinks about his 6. he looks down one path as far as he can see trying to 7. what life will be like if he walks that path. He then gazes at the other and decides the outcome of going down that path would be just as 8. At this point he concludes that the 9. that has been less travelled on would be more 10. when he reaches the end of it. The man then decides that he will save the other path for another day, even though he knows that one path leads to another and that he won’t get a 11. to go back. The man then says that he will be telling this story with a sigh someday in the future suggesting that he will 12. what life would have been like if he had chosen the more walked path even though the path he chose has made all the difference.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is : ab, aa, b.
Question 10.
Fill in the blanks to complete the following paragraph that gives the theme of the poem. Use the words given in the box below:
The poem “ The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is about the 1. that one makes in life. It tells about a man who comes to a 2. in the road he is travelling upon. He feels 3. that he cannot travel 4. paths as he must choose one. Frost uses this fork in the road to represent a point in the man’s life where he has to choose the 5. he wishes to take in life. As he thinks about his 6. he looks down one path as far as he can see trying to 7. what life will be like if he walks that path. He then gazes at the other and decides the outcome of going down that path would be just as 8. At this point he concludes that the 9. that has been less travelled on would be more 10. when he reaches the end of it. The man then decides that he will save the other path for another day, even though he knows that one path leads to another and that he won’t get a 11. to go back. The man then says that he will be telling this story with a sigh someday in the future suggesting that he will 12. what life would have been like if he had chosen the more walked path even though the path he chose has made all the difference.
Answer:
1. choices
2. fork
3. sorry
4. both
5. direction
6. decision
7. foresee
8. pleasant
9. trail
10. rewarding
11. chance
12. wonder
Question 11.
Roads are fascinating as metaphors for life, change, journeys, partings, adventure, etc. or simply as roads. This is probably why they, and all their attendant images, have permeated art, literature and song. In the poem, Frost uses the fork in the road as a metaphor for the choices we make in life. Thus the roads are, in fact, two alternative ways of life. What other nouns could be used to represent life?
1. choices
2. fork
3. sorry
4. both
5. direction
6. decision
7. foresee
8. pleasant
9. trail
10. rewarding
11. chance
12. wonder
Question 11.
Roads are fascinating as metaphors for life, change, journeys, partings, adventure, etc. or simply as roads. This is probably why they, and all their attendant images, have permeated art, literature and song. In the poem, Frost uses the fork in the road as a metaphor for the choices we make in life. Thus the roads are, in fact, two alternative ways of life. What other nouns could be used to represent life?
- River
- __________
- __________
- __________
- __________
- __________
- River
- Milestone
- Weather
- Changing seasons
- New leaves
- Train/Ship/Boat.
In groups of six, select, write the script of and present a skit that demonstrates decision making and conflict resolution. Follow the steps given below:
- choices to be made
- options to be considered
- the influence of others
- the decisions/actions taken
- the immediate and future consequences of the decision.
Classroom activity.
Question 13.
‘The Road Not Taken’ is a biographical poem. Therefore, some personal biographical information is relevant to the deeper understanding of the poem we have read. Go to www.encarta.com and complete the following worksheet about Robert Frost.
(a) What “momentous decision” was made by Frost in 1912?
(b) How old was he when he took this decision?
(c) Why was it so difficult to make this decision? Think and give more than one reason.
(d) Was the ‘road’ Frost had taken easy ‘to travel’?
(e) Do you think he wrote “The Road Not Taken” before sailing from the USA to England or after? Can you quote a line or two from the poem that can support your answer?
(f) Do you think Frost finally became popular in America as a poet?
Answer:
(a) Frost made the momentous decision of going to England from America.
(b) He was 38 when he made that momentous decision
(a) Frost made the momentous decision of going to England from America.
(b) He was 38 when he made that momentous decision
(c) It was quite difficult to take that decision because
(e) I think Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken’ after sailing from the USA to England. The lines that prove this point are: ‘I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence.’
(f) Robert Frost became very popular in the USA. He was widely read and appreciated as a poet in his lifetime.
- He was leaving the country of his birth and going to a foreign country.
- He was risking to adopt a profession that was not very rewarding.
- He had to sell his property to go there.
(e) I think Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken’ after sailing from the USA to England. The lines that prove this point are: ‘I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence.’
(f) Robert Frost became very popular in the USA. He was widely read and appreciated as a poet in his lifetime.