PRACTICE SHEET - ANSWER SCHEME

Subject: English Topic: The Road Not Taken

Grade: IX Div: _________ Roll No: _________ Date: ____________

Q1 Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
(a) Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth’
i. What does the poet regret?
The poet regrets the fact that he could not travel on both the roads. He regrets
the fact that once he chooses one road there may be no going back to the other.
ii. Why did the poet stand there looking at the two roads for a long time?
The poet stood for a long time because he could not decide which road he
should take.
iii. What does the phrase ‘yellow wood’ mean?
The poet refers to the leaves of the trees which turn yellow during the autumn
season and fall from trees. The leaves give the trees and the forest a yellow
hue.
iv. Give the antonym of the word –‘diverged’
converged

(b) ‘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’
i. What does ‘other’ refer to in the above lines?
In the above lines, ‘other’ refers to the road that was grassy and less travelled
upon.
ii. How was the road that the narrator chose?
The road that the narrator chose was grassy and less travelled upon.
iii. Explain ‘grassy and wanted wear’
The road was covered with grass as not many people had walked on that road
so it was more inviting.
iv. Give the synonym of the word-‘fair’
satisfactory / good enough

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(c) ‘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. What does ‘both’ refer to?
In the given lines ‘both’ refers to the two roads that forked out in different
directions.
ii. What made the narrator doubt whether he ‘should ever come back’?
The fact that one road generally leads to another made the narrator doubt that
he should ever come back.
iii. Explain ‘In leaves no step had trodden black’
The given line means that the dried leaves that lay on the path had not been
trampled upon.
iv. Find the antonym of –‘believed’
doubted

(d) 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. Which road did the poet ultimately take?
The poet took the road less travelled.
ii. Why did the poet take the road that he did?
The poet took the road less travelled because it looked equally attractive, it
'looked grassy’ and needed people to walk on it.
iii. What will the poet be telling ‘ages and ages’ hence?
‘Ages and ages hence’, the poet will tell about the two roads that diverged in the
wood and that he chose the one less travelled by.
iv. Find the antonym of the word –‘similarity’
difference

Q2 Answer the following in 30 to 40 words.

(a) Describe the two roads that the author comes across.
When the poet arrived at the two roads that diverged, he saw one road was a
beaten track where many people had walked on. The other road was grassy and

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seemed less trodden. The morning on which the poet arrived at the roads, both
the roads were covered with leaves that had not been trodden upon.

(b) Why did the poet choose the other road? What was the doubt in poet’s mind?
Being adventurous in nature, the poet chose the second road which was grassy
and less walked on and left the first one for some other day. The poet doubted if
he would ever be able to come back to travel the first road.

(c) Does the poet seem happy about his decision?

No, the poet is not happy about his decision because the title is ‘The Road not
Taken’ and not ‘The Road Less Travelled’. Though the last word of the poem
'difference' suggests a positive expression, the word is said with deep grief,
according to the word 'sigh' used in the first line of the stanza.

(d) What is the significance of the sigh in the last stanza?

The sigh near the end of the poem is intended to express a feeling of regret that
the speaker will never know what would have happened if he had taken the
other road. If he had taken the other road, then the road he actually took would
have been the one not taken.

Q3 Answer the following in 100-120 words.

(a) What was the poet’s dilemma in the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’?
The narrator faces a dilemma when he comes to a fork in the road. He is not
able to decide which road to take. Out of the two roads, he had to take only one.
One of the roads looks more tread upon while the other appears less travelled
on. He decides to take the second road which was less frequented. It was not
possible to make more than one choice, and to take both the roads. Though he
wants to walk on both, he decides to take the second road which was less
travelled , with the intention of walking on the first one sometime in the future.

(b) In your opinion, which road in the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ is better and why?
Neither is better. They are, essentially, the same.
The speaker says that he comes to a fork in the road and he examines both the
roads. When he looks at the second, he says that it is "just as fair" as the first,
and he claims that "the passing there / Had worn them really about the same."
In other words, the roads, although they are not identical and do look somewhat
different from one another, have been travelled approximately the same number
of times. The speaker says that the two roads "equally lay" in the leaves, and so

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they are really not significantly different from one another.

(c) Bring out the symbolism in the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’.
Through the poem, Robert Frost has spoken of something more than the choice
of roads. We can interpret the poet’s quandary of choosing a road as a symbol
of the numerous choices we have to make in life. There are occasions in our life
when two alternatives appear almost equally attractive. Through the years
however, we come to realize that the choices we make and the path we take to
journey on makes a difference to our lives.
The title ‘The Road not taken’ depicts the feeling of regret. After making a
choice, the poet was weighed down with the thought of not making the other
choice. He regrets not taking the other road, making the other choice. Even
when we do well often after making a choice we keep thinking of what could
have happened, what difference it would have made, if we had taken the other
choice.

(d) Does the speaker seem to be happy about his decision?

No, the speaker is found to lament profoundly on his decision. The poet
strongly hints at unhappy state with the negative title of the poem. We become
clear of his view when we read the line – “And that has made all the difference”.
He uses the word ‘sigh’ to reflect his failure in making the right decision.
Besides “I-I took the ……….” shows his hesitation in sharing his failed decision.
the poet has hinted that he regrets his decision.

(e) The poet says “I took the one less travelled by /And that has made all the difference.”
What is the difference that mentions?
The traveller picks the road ‘less travelled by’. Only future can tell whether he
was wise to go on the road he once chose. Metaphorically, the choice of the
road will bring change in life. If we follow the path that hardly suits us, we are
possibly going to suffer. Conversely, if we can choose the right track of life we
will prosper in life. This is what makes ‘The difference’ after all. The poem like
most of Frost’s poems ends in wisdom. Once again establishing Frost’s vision
that a poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom. The poet here talks about the
failure that has come upon his life as he chose the wrong way.

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