Summary of The Road Not Taken

Lines 1-2
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both”
The poet while travelling on foot in the woods reaches a junction
where two roads diverge. Immediately, he realizes that as a
traveller travelling both the roads is impossible. Here two roads are
meant two ways of life. The woods are yellow, which means that it
probably falls and the leaves are turning yellow.

Lines 3-5
“And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;”
As it is impossible to travel both the roads, the poet stands there trying to
choose which path he’s going to take. However, the poet wants to go down
both paths and is thinking about it hard. He is staring down one road,
trying to see where it goes. The small plants and greenery of the woods
block his view.

Lines 6-8
“Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,”

The phrase could mean something like “as just as it is fair,” as in

proper, righteous and equal. But this doesn’t quite apply to a
road. “As just as fair” is an example of a simile. Then the poet
decided to check the other path because he found the other road to
be less travelled and grassy one. “Wanted wear” is an example of
personification.
Lines 9-10
“Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,”
After travelling through the road, he found that both the roads are
equally travelled. First, he found the first road to be the more
travelled one, but then he says that both the roads to be equally
travelled. The ‘as for that” refers to the path being less worn.

Lines 11-12
“And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.”
Here, again, the poet found both the paths looking same. Perhaps,
he goes in the flashback. It was tough for him to recognize the real
road as in the morning he was the first person to walk on the road.

He couldn’t decide the right path as no step had smashed the

leaves on the roads to allow him to go for the right one. These lines
are an example of imagery.

Lines 13-15
“Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.”
The poet here saves the first road for another day. He knows
how “way leads” to another, and then another until you end up very
far from where you started. The poet here saves the first road for
another day. Then in the third, he doesn’t think he will ever be able
to come back and take the other path, as much as he wishes he
could.
Line 16
“I shall be telling this with a sigh”
This line is the example of the poet’s failure in choosing the
right path. The word ‘sigh’ reflects that he is disappointed with
the decision.
Lines 17-19
“Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I-
I took the one less traveled by,”
He accepts the fact that he is a failure in taking the right decision. ‘Ages
and ages’ is an example of alliteration. Perhaps, he chose the less travelled
one.
Line 20
“And that has made all the difference.”
The poet took the path that no one else did, and that is what has
made the difference in his life that made him successful. However,
a “difference” could mean success or utter failure.
Rain On The Roof
1st Stanza:

When the humid shadows hover

Over all the starry spheres,
And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps in rainy tears,
What a joy to press the pillow
Of a cottage-chamber bed,
And to listen to the patter
Of the soft rain overhead!

In this stanza, the poet describes a rainy night. He says that all the stars of the
sky have become invisible because they have been covered by clouds. Darkness
usually has a negative connotation, and the poet makes no exception to this rule.
He says that the darkness is making him sad and reflective, and the rain also
seems to mirror his emotions as it looks like tears falling softly from human eyes.
At this point, the only thing that can bring joy to the poet is to curl up with a pillow
in the bed of a country cottage. Though the rooms of the cottage may be small
and ill-equipped, the sound of raindrops can only transport him there for him to
recover from his melancholic mood.

OR

Through this stanza, the poet describes the rain scene at night. In the starry night
when dark clouds gather for rain, at night (referred as melancholy darkness) rain falls
on the earth softly. For a poet, the sound of the rain is a source of joy, thus he
presses his face to the pillow and listens to the heart-soothing pitter-patter of the rain
falling on the roof of his small cottage.

2 nd Stanza:

Every tinkle on the shingles

Has an echo in the heart;
And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their bright hues into woof,
As I listen to the patter
Of the rain upon the roof.

In this stanza, the poet describes how the raindrops make the loudest sound as
they fall on the shingles of the roof. Each sound that is made by the rain in this
way is repeated the next instant by the beating of his heart. The things he has
only been imagining now start to appear before his very eyes. As he is listening to
the soft and continuous falling of the raindrops on his roof, all his memories are
coming back to him, but they are not discrete and separated from each other.
Instead all of his memories seem to have formed a patchwork by becoming
entwined with one another.

OR
Here the poet feels the sound of the rain on the shingles. And after every tinkle or
pitter-patter there is a reverberation in his heart identical to the sound of raining.
Because of the rain sound, he feels a series of dreams or fancies playing before his
eyes. While listening to the rain outside, he enjoys this part of imagination.

3rd Stanza:

Now in fancy comes my mother,

As she used to, years agone,
To survey her darling dreamers,
Ere she left them till the dawn;
Oh! I see her bending o’er me,
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.

In this stanza, the poet describes the first memory that he can actually identify
among the patchwork that all his memories have formed by meshing together. He
remembers how many years ago, in his childhood, his mother used to look down
at him and his siblings as they were sleeping and having pleasant dreams. His
mother would make a point to look at them every night, for she knew she would
not see them again till the next morning. What the poet remembers more than
anything is how his mother would bend down and watch over him in particular.
These memories are evoked as he listens to the repetitive rhythm of the raindrops
as they are falling on his roof.

OR

As it continues to rain, the memories continue to rush in his mind about his past life.
And in one such incident, he remembers his mother who used to come to see him as
well all his siblings at night before sleep. And particularly her mother would bend
down to kiss him. It is amazing to note that nature evokes the purest and best
memories from past life and at the same time one feels healed.
4th Stanza:

Then my little seraph sister,

With her wings and waving hair,
And her bright-eyed cherub brother –
A serene, angelic pair! –
Glide around my wakeful pillow,
With their praise or mild reproof,
As I listen to the murmur
Of the soft rain on the roof.

In this stanza, the poet imagines his younger brother and younger sister as
angels. It may seem unbelievable that he could think so highly of them, as if there
was no sibling rivalry or mischievous fights among them at all. However , we
should not assume that it was so. The fact is that memory often has a way of
influencing our perceptions of the past. Though the poet may have fought often
with his siblings, he only wants to remember them as their beautiful, sweet and
innocent selves. He remembers his brother and his sister as they would gather
round him, while his head was laying on the pillow, apparently prepared for sleep,
but when his eyes were wide awake. At such times, his siblings would either chat
with him cheerfully, praising him for some or other of his actions. However,
sometimes they would also express disapproval over something the poet had said
or done. This disapproval never upset the poet too much though, and so he
remembers it as being mild. He remembers these things about his siblings as he
is listening to the low sounds of the drizzle that is coming down on his roof.

OR

In this stanza, the poet remembers his sister and brother, probably younger ones. He
imagines them in the form of angles revolving around his pillow. Though he had tiny
dust-offs often with them but as he is remembering them, thus he casts a positive
vibes on his memories. To remember someone positively is possible.

5th Stanza:

And another comes to thrill me

With her eye’s delicious blue;
And forget I, gazing on her,
That her heart was all untrue:
I remember but to love her
With a rapture kin to pain,
And my heart’s quick pulses vibrate
To the patter of the rain.

In this stanza, the poet remembers a lover who had once attracted his attention,
and aroused strong emotions in him, with the intense blue colour of her eyes. This
lover had not been faithful to him though. However, the poet chooses not to
remember such unpleasant things. Instead he focuses on himself, and remembers
how his love for her was a strange mix of both joy and pain. At this point, his heart
starts beating faster and at the same time, the raindrops also start falling at a
faster pace.

OR

Apart from some good memories, there also comes disturbing memories to the poet
when he was in love with a beautiful girl. However, the girl didn’t respond to his love.
The poet loves her beautiful blue eyes. Though she didn’t love him, but he loved her,
and this is splendid memory for him. He remembers her with mixture of pain and joy.
In remembrance his heart thumps to the tune of rain falling outside.

6th Stanza:

There is naught in Art’s bravuras,

That can work with such a spell
In the spirit’s pure, deep fountains,
Whence the holy passions well,
As that melody of Nature,
That subdued, subduing strain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.

In this stanza, the poet says that there are great pieces of music that have been
composed by man, but none of those pieces can stir up strong emotions as easily
as the melody that Nature creates with the sound of the rain. He says that
Nature’s music is restrained, and it also quietens the environment around it.
However, the emotions that it is capable of unleashing can be compared to the
waters cascading down the slope of a mountain in the form of a waterfall.

OR
In the last stanza, the poet compares the music of rain with man-made music.
Though man has composed several great music pieces, but none matches the
veracity of the nature. The sound of rain (nature) is not only influential but also
restrained and of higher value, when it comes it overcomes all other sounds
happening in the surrounding.

Through this poem, we get to know many beautiful yet serene aspects of nature.
Though here the medium is rain, but nature be it in any form, is indeed has healing
powers and often it evokes memories of our past life, especially childhood.