Session 2020-21

Online Resource
Connecting Class to Home
Subject: English Grade IX May, 2023
Book: Beehive
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Reference to Text Question Answers:
STANZA: I

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth”

(a) –Where is the speaker standing?

Ans –The speaker is standing at a point where the road forks into two.
(b)-Why did the poet feel sorry? Or, What did the poet regret?
Ans –There were two roads. The poet felt sorry as he could not travel on both the roads.
(c)-What does ‘yellow wood’ stand for?
Ans –It is the season of autumn .The leaves have turned yellow. The phrase ‘yellow
wood’ represents the forest in autumn season.
(d)-What does the word ‘roads’ represent?
Ans –The word ‘roads’ represents the problem of decision-making.
(e)-‘---long I stood’. What did the speaker do while standing for a long time?
Ans –He stood there at the fork for a long time as he could not make a decision. He
took time to make up his mind as to which road he should choose and why.
(f)-Explain: ‘And be one traveller’.
Ans –The expression means that he was an individual who couldn’t travel two roads at
the same time.
(g) –What was the physical condition of both the roads on that morning?
Ans –Both the roads were covered with leaves that morning. No one had walked over
them.
(h) –What is the doubt in the poet’s mind?
Ans –The poet knows that one road leads to another. One can never hope to come
back to the point which one has left in the past. So the poet is doubtful whether he will
ever return to take the other road.

STANZA: II

“Then took the other, 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”

(a)-Which road did the poet take?

Ans –The poet took the road which was less travelled.
(b) –What does the expression ‘the other’ refer to here?
Ans –The expression, ‘the other’ refers to the road chosen by the poet.
(c)-Why did the speaker choose the ‘other’ road?
Ans –The speaker took the other road because it was less travelled and challenging.
(d)-Explain :’….just as fair’.
Ans-By ‘just as fair’ the poet means that the road that he chose to tread on appeared to
be just as inviting, beautiful and rewarding as the other road that was chosen by the
majority.
(e)- What ‘better claim’ did ‘the other’ have?
Ans –The poet chose the other road because it was more grassy and less worn out than
the first one. Thus, being adventurous, he was tempted to take it as it seemed to be less
travelled by people. It was not explored by many people, so it offered new opportunities.

STANZA-III

“And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.”
(a) –What does ‘both’stand for in the first line?
Ans –‘Both’in the first line stands for the two roads which diverged in a yellow wood.
(b) –What does the poet think about the first road?
Ans –The poet thinks that he will travel the first road some other day.
(c) –What is the doubt in the poet’s mind?
Ans–The poet knows that one road leads to another .One can never hope to come back
to the point which one had left in the past. So the poet is doubtful whether he will ever
return to take the other road.

STANZA-IV

“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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

(a) –What will the speaker be telling with a sigh?

Ans –He would be telling about his decision to travel on the less travelled road, which
had made all the difference in his life.
(b)-Why would he say it with a sigh?
Ans The speaker does not know the result of his decision. He would say it with a ‘sigh’.
It may be a ‘sigh of relief’ or ‘a sigh of grief’ depending on the outcome of his decision.
(c)-Why does the poet say,’ And that has made all the difference’?
Ans –The poet means to say that it was the choice of that specific road that shaped his
life in a particular manner. Had he chosen the other road, life would have been different.
(d)-As a symbol, what does ‘road’ signify in the poem?
Ans-As a symbol, ‘road ‘signifies opportunities in life and the decisions and choices one
has to make in life.