Class 9 English - Poem: The Road Not Taken (Extract Based Questions)(#cbsenotes)(#eduvictors)(#class9English)

Class 9 English - Poem: The Road Not Taken (Extract Based Questions)

The poem is a metaphor about the dilemma of making decisions that we have to make in our lives.

Poet: Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)

Read the extracts given below and answers the questions that follow:

Q1: Two roads diverged in yellow wood.

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And locked down once as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

(i) At which point had the poet reached?

(ii) Why was the traveller feeling sorry?

(iii) Where did the one road lead to?

(iv) Give the opposite to ‘met at a point’ from the passage?

(v) What does ‘yellow wood’ stand for ?

(vi) What do you think about the mood of the poet ?

Answer: 

 (i) The poet was standing at a point where two roads diverged in the yellow wood.

(ii) The poet felt sorry because he could not travel on both the roads. 

(iii) The one led to the dense forest full of plants and animals.

(iv) ‘Diverged’.

(v) ‘Yellow wood’ stands for the autumn season.

(vi) The mood of the poet is regretful and thoughtful.

Q2: 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) Give the antonym for the word, ‘leads’.

(ii) What had the poet kept for another day ?

(iii) What is the doubt in the poet’s mind ?

(iv) Who is ‘I’ in the stanza ?

 

Answer: 

(i) Follows

(ii) The poet had kept the first road for another day which had been less travelled by others.

(iii) The poet doubts whether he will ever be able to travel on the first road again.

(iv) ‘I’ refers to the poet Robert Frost.

Q3: 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.

(i) How did the poet make his choice about the roads?

(ii) What had made a lot of difference in the poet's life?

(iii) Why is the writer so confused?

(iv) What does the term ‘road’ stand for?

(v) Does the speaker regret on his decision?

Answer: 

(i) The poet took the road which was less travelled as it was grassy and less worn.

(ii) The poem does not clearly state whether the choice made by the poet made him happy or sad. We assume the last line 'that has made all the difference' connotes the poet's joy that he took the right decision.

(iii) The writer is so confused because there are two roads in front of him and he has to choose one. Whatever the road he chooses, sets a different future path of his life.

(iv) The term ‘road’ stands for opportunities and choices we face in our life. 

(v) No, the speaker does not feel that he has made a wrong decision by taking the road less travelled. The poet wanted to explore both the roads. He tells himself that he will explore one and then come back and explore the other, but he knows that he will probably be unable to do so.

Q4:  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

(i) What was ‘just as fair’?

(ii) Why did it have a better claim?

(iii) Find the rhyme scheme of the given stanza

(iv) Write a similar word for'perhaps'.

Answer: 

(i) The second road.

(ii) Because it was grassy and less used (travelled).

(iii) abaab

(iv) hopefully / may

👉See Also:

The Road Not Taken (MCQs)
The Road Not Taken (Summary)
The Road Not Taken (Q & A)

Class 9 - Study Notes