Literary Criticism is the evaluation, analysis, description, or interpretation of literary works.

Critique (verb) means to critically evaluate, analyze or give careful judgment in which you give your opinion about a
literary work.

Critique (noun) is a detailed evaluation or analysis of a literary piece.

Critic is a person who judges, evaluates, or analyzes a literary piece.

FORMALIST/ FORMALISM

Direction: Read the poem. You can also play the video of the poem. I saved the video in the DepEd tablet. It is in the
desktop.

The Road Not Taken

BY R OBERT FR OST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, A

And sorry I could not travel both B
And be one traveler, long I stood A
And looked down one as far as I could A
To where it bent in the undergrowth; B

Then took the other, as just as fair, C

And having perhaps the better claim, D
Because it was grassy and wanted wear; C
Though as for that the passing there C
Had worn them really about the same, D

And both that morning equally lay E

In leaves no step had trodden black. F
Oh, I kept the first for another day! E
Yet knowing how way leads on to way, E
I doubted if I should ever come back. F

I shall be telling this with a sigh G

Somewhere ages and ages hence: H
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— G
I took the one less traveled by, G
And that has made all the difference. H

Directions: Read each question and all the choices carefully, and then identify the best choice. Write the letter of the
best answer in your portfolio notebook.

1. Based on the information in the poem, what do yellow woods represent? (Structuralist)
a. choice b. older people
c. people d. poets
2. In the first stanza of the poem, how is the word “diverged” used? (Structuralist)
a. headed to the same place b. circled around and went backward
c. went in different directions d. continued forward in a straight line
3. What is the rhyme scheme in the first stanza?
a. ABAAB b. ABBAB
c. ABABB d. ABBAA
4. What is the setting of this poem?
a. a wood with two roads in it b. a dark forest in the middle of winter
c. a quiet street near a town d. the back yard of a house in the country
5. In line 20, what “has made all the difference” according to the speaker of the poem? (Structuralist)
a. The speaker took the road less traveled by.
b. The speaker chose a road after looking as far down it as possible.
c. The speaker selected the road that bent in the brushwood.
d. The speaker chose the first of the two roads.
6. What can you infer from the tone of the poem? (Structuralist)
a. love and determination
b. confusion and hesitation
c. happiness and satisfaction
d. weariness and despair
7. Why the road have “wanted wear” and been “grassy?” in the second stanza? (Structuralist)
a. The second road had been taken by only few people.
b. The second road had a nice view.
c. The second road had been chosen by many people.
d. The second road was near a river that was near the woods.
8. What do you think is the theme of this poem?
a. living life to the fullest b. giving up hope
c. making a choice d. having strong determination
9. “I shall be telling this with a sigh”. What does this line refer to? (Structuralist)
a. the picture of the first road winding in the undergrowth
b. the plants and grasses that lay near the paths in the yellow woods
c. the residence of the speaker in the vicinity of the yellow woods
d. the explanation of why the speaker chose the second road
10. What are the various sounds that are used to emphasize some sections of the poem?
a. alliteration, assonance, rhyme, rhythm
b. alliteration, assonance, rhyme, onomatopoeia
c. rhythm, alliteration, assonance, euphony
d. cacophony, assonance, rhyme, alliteration

POETRY

I. Literary devices - are tools used by writers to hint at larger themes, ideas, and meaning in a story or piece of writing.

a. Simile - (indirect comparison) two unrelated objects are being compared to each other with the use of the words
“like” or “as.” Example: You are as brave as a lion.

b. Metaphor - (direct comparison) a statement in which two objects, often unrelated, are compared to each other.
Example: This tree is the god of the forest.

c. Personification -giving human attributes to nonhuman objects. Example: The car needs a cold shower.

d. Imagery – refers to the use of figurative language that evokes a sensory experience or creates vivid mental pictures
for readers. Writers employ descriptive language and figures of speech to appeal to the reader’s senses, including sight,
taste, smell, touch, and sound. It goes beyond mere visual representations and encompasses physical sensations and
internal emotions.

Visual imagery engages the sense of sight to deepen the reader's comprehension of what is happening and how
to feel about it. Example: The tree spread its gigantic, sun-flecked shoulders.

Auditory imagery engages the sense of hearing to deepen the reader's comprehension of what is happening and
how to feel about it. Example: The forest was hushed, resounding with echoes of the tree’s stoic silence.

Tactile imagery engages the sense of touch to deepen the reader's comprehension of what is happening and
how to feel about it. Example: The tree felt smooth as sandstone.

Gustatory imagery engages the sense of taste to deepen the reader's comprehension of what is happening and
how to feel about it. Example: The tree’s leaves tasted bitter, like unroasted coffee beans.

Olfactory imagery engages the sense of smell to deepen the reader's comprehension of what is happening and
how to feel about it. Example: The sweet aroma of the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies wafted from the
kitchen to the living room.

e. Symbolism - uses symbols which can be words, people, marks, locations, or abstract ideas to represent something
beyond the literal meaning. Example: rainbow–symbolizes hope and promise; red rose–symbolizes love and romance

II. Sound devices - are special tools the poet can use to create certain effects in the poem to convey and reinforce
meaning through sound.

a. Rhyme – is the matching vowel sounds at the end of words or lines.

Example: Out of the night that covers me

Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

b. Rhythm in poetry is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that creates a beat or flow of sound. It’s like the
heartbeat of a poem, influencing its musical quality and how readers perceive it.
 Types of Rhythm:
Iamb: The most common metrical foot, consisting of two syllables. The first is unstressed, and the
second is stressed. When a line consists of iambs, it’s called “iambic.”
Trochee: Another metrical foot with two syllables. The first is stressed, and the second is unstressed.
Lines with trochees are “trochaic.”
Spondee: Made up of two stressed syllables. Lines using spondees are “spondaic.”
Anapest: Contains three syllables—two unstressed followed by one stressed.
Dactyl: The opposite of an anapest, with three syllables—first stressed, followed by two unstressed.
Example:
Iambic
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
(From Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18)
Trochaic
In Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem “Sorrow,” she uses trochaic meter:
“Sorrow like a ceaseless rain
Beats upon my heart.
People twist and scream in pain,
— Dawn will find them still again;
This has neither wax nor wane,
Neither stop nor start.”
Spondaic
“Heartbeat”
The steady drumbeat of life,
Each pulse echoing existence.
Anapest
“The Destruction of Sennacherib” (By Lord Byron)
“The As syr ian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his co horts were glea ming in purp le and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nigh tly on deep Gali lee.
Like the leaves of the for est when Sum mer is green,
That host with their ban ners at sun set were seen:
Like the leaves of the for est when Aut umn hath blown …
For the An gel of Death spread his wings on the blast …
And their hearts but once hea ved, and for ever grew still!”
Dactyl
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” (By Alfred Lord Tennyson)
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Walt Whitman's poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" (1859)

Out of the mockingbird's throat, the musical shuttle

Other English words with dactyl are “mockingbird,” “casual,” “partially.”

Two roads/ di verged/ in a yel/ low wood, (A) - spondee/iambic/anapest/iambic

And sor/ ry I could /not tra/ vel both (B) - iambic/anapest/iambic/iambic
And be/ one tra ve/ ler, long /I stood (A) - iambic/dactyl/iambic/iambic
And looked/ down one/ as far /as I could (A) - iambic/iambic/iambic/anapest
To where/ it bent /in the un/der growth; (B) - iambic/iambic/anapest/iambic

c. Repetition - is the repeating of any words, phrases, sentences or lines within a poem.

Example To the swinging and the ringing

of the bells, bells, bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!’
Assonance -is the repeating of any words, phrases, sentences or lines within a poem.

Example: I like to decline an offer of wine to define my style.

Alliteration - is the repetition of the consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Example: The shepherd shook his head in negation.

Onomatopoeia - uses words which imitate the natural sounds of things.

Example: The sack fell into the river with a splash.

SHORT STORY

It discovers the true meaning of a work by giving attention to the form or structure, elements and literary devices
operating in it. Structure/ form - It scrutinizes the plot (chronological sequence) and the conflict in a story.

It studies how the elements work together to form unity and to give meaning to a text.

a. How do elements conspire or work together?

b. How does the conflict affect the characters’ actions?
c. What do the objects, events, images or actions symbolize?

It analyzes the work as a whole, the form of each individual part of the text from the individual scenes and chapters, the
characters, the settings, the tone, the point of view, the theme, and all other literary elements and devices such as
imagery.

Character- It is a person, animal, being, creature or anything personified in a story.

Setting-It is not only the place and time a story takes place but also includes the atmosphere.

Tone- It is the overall emotion conveyed by both the choices of words, theme, sensory images, symbolism and
the narrator of the story such as suspenseful, affectionate, happy or sad.

Point of View- It answers the question “Who is telling the story?”

Types: 1. First person- It uses either of the two pronouns “I” or “We”. The narrator is a participant in the
story relating his or her own experiences directly or an observer.

2. Second person- The story is told to “You”.

3. Third person- It uses pronouns “They”, “She”, “He”, “It” or a name. The narrator may be omniscient
(all- knowing) or has a full access to the thoughts and experiences of all characters in the story or may be
a limited omniscient who usually cannot see into minds or know the future, etc.

Theme- It is the author’s message to the readers.

Imagery-It consists of descriptive language to create images in the mind of the readers through their senses.

STRUCTURALIST/ STRUCTURALISM

Directions: Read each question and answer the following questions in two sentences. Write your answer on your
portfolio notebook.

Questions:
1. What makes the poet decide to take the less traveled road? What does it signify? He wanted to make a difference.
2. What does the image of two diverging roads symbolize? Decision-Making, Making choices

MORALIST

Directions: Read each question and answer the following questions in two sentences. Write your answer on your
portfolio notebook.

Questions:
1. How does this poem remind you of the personal choices that you made before? The answers may vary.
2. In your point of view, do you think the speaker in the poem is happy about his choice? Why or why not? From the line,
I shall be telling this with a sigh, the speaker is expressing sadness, relief, tiredness. But the speaker is happy that he
made a difference.
3. What are the chances that the speaker will get to come back and try the other path? There is no other chance just like
in the line, And sorry I could not travel both.
HISTORICAL

Directions: Read the two articles and answer the following questions in two sentences. Write your answer on your
portfolio notebook.

Article #1: American regionalism

In the early twentieth century, numerous American writers who felt frustrated with the willful obscurantism of
the avant-garde sought to ground themselves in the regions where they lived and worked. These “regionalist” writers
typically expressed a preference for the country over the city. This preference stemmed partly from a belief that rural
landscapes were spiritually therapeutic, and partly from a desire to honor the value of colloquial language and
homegrown wisdom. Robert Frost is often considered to be a regional poet, since he set much of his writing in the rural
landscapes of New England, where he lived for much of his life. When Frost came of age as a poet in the first decade of
the twentieth century, he found it difficult to locate himself in a field increasingly driven by experimentalism.
Movements like Imagism, though short-lived, had an outsized impact on modern poetry. Hence, when compared to the
experimental poetics of modernists like Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, what’s most immediately evident about Frost’s poetry
is its accessibility. His speakers habitually use simple language to observe and reflect on the local landscape. Even so,
they often give voice to universal truths.
Source: https://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/the-road-not-taken/critical-context/

Article #2: The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost-A Historical Perspective

By DAVID LU

If you’re one of the legions of high school students who have read Robert Frost’s classic poem, “The Road Not Taken,”
you probably view it simply as a philosophical poem about making difficult decisions. Think again.

Many people are oblivious to the fascinating history behind this famous piece, involving the tale of two best friends that
ultimately ends in one friend indirectly killing the other through this poem. Not quite what you were expecting, huh?

Here’s the poem for a quick refresher:

 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as 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,

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.

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 traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Without any further research and on the initial reading, this poem doesn’t seem particularly
sophisticated. Put simply, it’s about the poet’s choice to take the less-worn road over a well-worn one,
on a trip that he’s taking. If a little bit of a metaphorical magic is mixed in, it then becomes about the
choice the poet has made to make a unique decision, over a choice that the majority of people would
have made, in an important moment on his journey of life.

However, a little research reveals that Frost dedicated this poem to Edward Thomas, who happened to
be his best friend and to have also been a poet and an Englishman. The story behind that friendship
sheds an entirely new light on this poem.

Hold on, I hear you questioning, wasn’t Frost an American poet? So how did he have an English bloke as
his best friend? Well, Frost began his journey as a poet while he was living in England, and returned to
America shortly after the first World War.

Like any other best friends in the roaring 20’s, Frost and Thomas took frequent nature walks, where they
would admire the beautiful English landscape and try to identify interesting birds and other fauna and
flora. During these walks, the friends would choose a path at random to venture down, and being the
person that he was, Thomas would be constantly regretful of the paths that they missed out on and
often blamed himself for not finding any particularly interesting birds (this strange obsession will be
explained later). As Frost once said, Thomas was “a person, who, whichever road he went, would be
sorry he didn’t go the other.”
On one particular walk, the pair were impeded by an aggressive gamekeeper wielding a shotgun. Frost,
in true American fashion, bunched up his fists like a professional boxer and was fully prepared to start
brawling with whacks and thwacks in a gun fight but ceased when he noticed Thomas hurrying away
before the situation could escalate.

Afterwards, with Frost in the lead, the two friends marched to the gamekeeper’s house. Frost banged on
the door, verbally assaulting the gamekeeper upon the door’s opening. The gamekeeper was probably
mauled by Frost’s powerfully poetic voice, which prompted him to hide behind his shotgun again, but
was too scared to point it at the fearsome Frost, so he directed it towards Thomas. Like any other
sensible human being, Thomas engaged in a tactical retreat, but Frost firmly stood his ground yet again,
like the Statue of Liberty standing against the dark depths of oppression.

After this harrowing experience for Thomas, he was deeply ashamed of having acted like a coward. On
top of all this, the incident took place while World War I was being fought, and all of Thomas’ friends
had gone to war. Additionally, at the time, Britain was advocating for “pal battalions,” which meant that
the people who you grew up with, laughed with, played football with, gone fishing with, and shot guns
with, would be guaranteed to be grouped together, and to fight and die together in the front lines. Thus,
Thomas must have felt rather excluded and even more of a coward.

However, Thomas was an anti-nationalist. Although he often discussed politics with Frost on their
leisurely nature walks, he was disinterested in the politics that started World War I and he despised the
propaganda and blatant racism that were denouncing Germans at the time in Britain. He was more
interested in enjoying the beautiful English countryside and the birds who called it home. In fact, he was
even quoted as saying that his “real countrymen were not Englishmen, but the birds!”

Thomas proudly took a stronger stance against racism, violence and bigotry than before and, continuing
the war analogy, he dug deep trenches and stationed plenty of machine guns in his fight against racism –
similar to the trenches and machine guns that Thomas faced on the front lines. Wait … what was
Thomas doing on the front lines?

Turns out Thomas had chosen “The Road Not Taken.” Even though he was an anti-nationalist and had
two children, Thomas decided that the politics behind the start of the war did not matter as he had a
burning desire to protect the beautiful artwork of nature against the foreign German invaders.

Before Frost sent him this poem, Thomas had initially planned to depart with Frost to New Hampshire in
America to escape the war and begin a new life farming, writing and reading poetry with his bestie. It’s
hard to imagine a more idealistic and pure life than being able to hang out with your best friend for the
rest of your life and doing what you both love together, whilst surveying the beautiful rural landscapes.

Although to be honest, while things may have been different back then, going to live with your best
friend seems a bit far-fetched. I’d understand the occasional couch surf, but actually moving in with your
bestie shows just how close Frost and Thomas were. In fact, later in life, Frost reportedly said of all the
people he had met, the only person whom he could truly call a friend was Edward Thomas. Therefore,
Thomas’s decision to abandon all this after Frost sent him this poem undoubtedly demonstrates the
power four five-line stanzas can have on an individual.
In fact, it was this poem that pushed Thomas off the edge to finally make a choice. After a full year of
indecision, Thomas had to juggle the two ideas of whether he should emigrate to America with Frost or
fight for his beautiful landscapes against the dreadful invaders.

Usually, when faced with a tough set of options, we will brood over it for perhaps a few minutes, maybe
even a few hours, at most a day or a week. Sitting on the fence must have been uncomfortable at first,
but excruciating after a full year for Thomas.

Frost, superhero-of-sorts, courageously swooped down and saved him by plucking him off the fence and
setting him gently on one side, with his trusty side-kick “The Road Not Taken.” However, in reality, Frost
had set his best friend on a metaphorical bear trap, which would cost Thomas’ life almost immediately,
by a stray concussive blast wave from a shell, shortly after he was deployed in France.

There could have been no conceivable way for Frost to have foreseen such an event, and I’d imagine he
was filled to the brim with regret for quite some time, always questioning himself about what if Thomas
hadn’t taken “The Road Not Taken.”

Now, after all that, I bet your perspective of this poem that you thought you knew so well has radically
changed.
Source: https://bluemarblereview.com/the-road-not-taken-by-robert-frost-a-historical-perspective/

Questions:
1. What happened to Robert Frost in American regionalism? Robert Frost is often considered to be a
regional poet, since he set much of his writing in the rural landscapes of New England, where he lived
for much of his life. He found it difficult to locate himself in a field increasingly driven by
experimentalism. However, Frost’s poetry has its accessibility. His speakers habitually use simple
language to observe and reflect on the local landscape. Even so, they often give voice to universal
truths.
2. What inspired Robert Frost to write the poem The Road Not Taken? His bestie/bestfriend Edward
Thomas was the inspiration of Robert Frost in writing the poem. In fact, it was this poem that pushed
Thomas off the edge to finally make a choice. After a full year of indecision, Thomas had to juggle the
two ideas of whether he should emigrate to America with Frost or fight for his beautiful landscapes
against the dreadful invaders.

FEMINIST / FEMINISM

Directions: Open the tablet and look at the desktop the video of the poem, The Road Not Taken by
Robert Frost. Watch the video and answer the following questions in two sentences. Write your answer
on your portfolio notebook.

Questions:
1. How does the video show the decision-making of the women and girls? Historically speaking, women
are considered weak in terms of their decision-making because of the governing patriarchal system that
says only men have a voice in society. However, in the timeline of feminism, the emerging strength of
women has been evidently amazing in showing that equality among genders has ruled out the
patriarchy. Women's decisions are heard, and they are given a chance to be recognized.
2. Is there any difference in the decision-making of men or boys and women or girls?

Kathy Caprino of Forbes interviewed Therese Huston, a director of Center for Faculty Development at
Seattle University, said that a study conducted by Mara Mather, a cognitive neuroscientist at the
University of Southern California, and Ruud van den Bos, a neurobiologist at Radboud University in the
Netherlands on who among the men or women have good decision making when in a difficult scenario.

It appeared that men become laser-focused on rewards when their heart rates and cortisol levels run
high, even if that reward has only a tiny chance of materializing. When the pressure is on and there’s the
glimmer of a highly rewarding outcome, men take gambles, more and bigger gambles than they would
ordinarily choose.

While, women took more time weighing the contingencies and were more interested in smaller rewards
they could count on. Rather than falling apart, women bring unique strengths to decision-making.
Women tend to become risk-alert under stress and go for the smaller wins that are more guaranteed.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/05/12/how-decision-making-is-different-between-men-
and-women-and-why-it-matters-in-business/?sh=84febb4dcdf3

MARXIST

Directions: Read the poem again and answer the following questions in two sentences. Write your
answer on your portfolio notebook.

Questions:
1. Does social class have an effect on the decision-making of a person? Explain.

Social class indeed plays a significant role in shaping an individual’s decision-making tendencies. Let’s
explore how it impacts decision-making:

1. Political Preferences:
o Identity and Grievance: Social class can impart a sense of identity and grievance,
leading to dramatically different political preferences.
o Examples:
▪ Some people from higher social classes may be more opposed to immigration,
while others may be more nationalist and supportive of punitive law-and-order
policies.
▪ Additionally, social class influences attitudes toward economic redistribution 1.
2. Prestige-Seeking and Decision-Making:
o Research has investigated the influence of social class on decision-making tendencies
related to prestige-seeking.
o Prestige-Money Game: In a series of experiments, participants’ social class was
manipulated to examine prestige-seeking behavior.
o Findings:
▪ Upper-class individuals tend to show greater money-seeking tendencies when
facing an upper-class opponent.
 ▪ Conversely, they exhibit greater prestige-seeking tendencies when facing a
lower-class opponent.
▪ Lower-class individuals focus more on their personal needs, showing greater
prestige-seeking against upper-class opponents and greater money-seeking
against lower-class opponents.
▪ These tendencies are influenced by social rank and the instrumental value
associated with prestige2.
3. Social Norms and Decision-Making:
o Social norms significantly impact decision-making.
o Brain imaging studies suggest that social norms influence decisions more than a desire
for fairness3.
4. In-Group Conformity:
o Individuals tend to conform to the behavior and preferences of their social group.
o Brain Activity: In-group conformity increases activity in brain regions associated with
rewards, including money and reputation4.

In summary, social class shapes not only our political choices but also our preferences in various
decision-making scenarios. It reflects the interplay between identity, values, and societal norms.

Source: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/alekseiopacic/files/evans-opacic_2021.pdf

2. In our present time, can social class be considered one of the contributing factors in making
decisions? Explain. Answers may vary.

READER-RESPONSE

Directions: Read the poem again and answer the following questions in two sentences. Write your
answer on your portfolio notebook.

Questions:
1. Is there a moment in your life when you struggle to make decisions? Explain how you arrived at your
final decision. Answers may vary.
2. If you were to advise someone who is struggling, what three pieces of advice would you give to your
friend on how to make the best decision? Answers may vary.
3. How do you look at the concept of making wrong decisions? Is this really the wrong decision?
Answers may vary.