Class 9 NCERT Solutions English Chapter P.2: The Road Not Taken

This answer depends on each student's views and experiences. Please use the following guidelines to write your answer.

Some choices that could have far reaching consequences:

• The optional subjects I should choose.

• The stream of education to follow once I finish my 10^th grade-arts/science/commerce.

• The college I should attend.

• The peer group of friends I should mix around with

• The sport I should follow.

• Should I continue my studies in India or should I go abroad to study?

• Whether I should change from being a vegetarian to a non vegetarian or vice versa.

• The career that I should follow.

This answer depends on each student's views and experiences. You can use the following points to write your answers.

I have made the common choices because:

• I do not like to be the leader or take the initiative.

• I prefer the tried and tested routes.

• I don't like taking risks.

• I do not like the responsibilities than come with taking an unknown path.

OR

I have taken risks in life because:

• I am a very adventurous and impulsive.

• I like the thrill of a challenge.

• I like being different.

• I like making my own choices- a choice of who and what you want to be.

• I am curious about the unknown.

Remember: "Not everything that's popular is right and what's right may not necessarily be popular."

This answer depends on each student's views and experiences. Please use the following points to frame your answer.

A few guidelines

• The optional subjects that I should choose.
• The stream of education that I should follow. The college that I should attend.

   

• The peer group of friends I should mix around with.

   

• The sport I should follow.

   

• Whether I should change from being a vegetarian to a non vegetarianor vice versa.

   

• The career I should pursue. Should I give into certain habits like alcohol or cigarettes just because of peer pressure?

• How should I choose friends? Should I obey rules and regulations or bend and break the rules occasionally?

   

 This is an activity that has to be carried out in the class.

The poet suddenly found himself at a point in the yellow woods where the roads forked off in two directions. He had to choose the path that he wanted to take.

The lines in the poem point to the fact that he may or may not have regretted his choice.

 The line "I shall be telling this with a sigh" could indicate that he regretted the choice he made.

However, the line "And that has made all the difference" could indicate that he was positive. He felt that he had made the right choice or decision which made a difference to his life.

(i) the tough choices people make the road of life. 

(iii) branched off

(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness

The road that the poet took had the better claim because it was grassy and not many people had used it. Besides that, both the roads were worn out to the same extent and were covered with leaves that none had trodden on.

The poet took the road that was less travelled because it had the better claim. It was grassy and not many people had used it.

This answer depends on each student's views and experiences.

A few guidelines

I would choose the road that every one used because:

• It is tried and tested.

   

• I prefer going with the crowd.

   

• I prefer taking paths that have been takenbefore.

   

• I do not like to be the leader or take the initiative.

   

• I don'tlike taking risks.

   

I would choose the road less taken because:

• I like to be different.

   

• I am very adventurous and impulsive.

   

• I prefer paths not taken by everyone.

   

• I like challenges.

   

The speaker may or may not be happy with his choice.

 The line "I shall be telling this with a sigh" could indicate that he regretted the choice he made. 

However the line "And that has made all the difference" could indicate that he was happy. He felt that he had made the right choice or decision which made a difference to his life.

When the poet came to the cross roads, he had a choice. He could take the road travelled by many or he could take the road less travelled. He decided to take the road less travelled knowing fully well that once the choice was made, it was permanent and there was no turning back. That 'choice' he had made, according to him, has changed his life. It may have brought him success, happiness and fulfillment. The choice that he made at that time affected his future. That choice made all the difference to his life.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is abaab

wood (a)

both (b)

stood (a)

could(a)

undergrowth (b)

The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is about the choices that one makes In life. It tells about a man who comes to a fork in the road he is travelling upon. He feels sorry that he cannot travel both paths as he must choose one. Frost uses this fork in the road to represent a point in the man's life where he has to choose the direction he wishes to take in life. As he thinks about his decision he looks down one path as far as he can see trying to foresee what life will be like if he walks that path. He then gazes at the other and decides the outcome of going down that path would be just as pleasant. At this point he concludes that the trail that has been less travelled on would be more rewarding when he reaches the end of it. The man then decides that he will save the other path for another day, even though he knows that one path leads to another and that he won't get a chance to go back. The man then says that he will be telling this story with a sigh someday in the future suggesting that he will wonder what life would have been like if he had chosen the more walked path even though the path he chose has made all the difference.

Rivers, seas, oceans: For their vastness and depth

Trees, lands, forests: For longevity and variety of flora and fauna

Sports: For their strategies, tricks, and spirit of sportsmanship

Battle fields/ wars: For their consequences, destruction, and compromise

Candle: A metaphor for life and death

Music: For a variety of tunes and notes displaying ones moods

Ocean

Books: Symbolic of different situations in life including the different kinds of people one meets.

Students are free to add more nouns to this list based on their thoughts and experiences. Each thing is symbolic of something or the other in our life.

This is a group activity and will depend on each student's ideas and experiences. Try to be as innovative as possible.

This question is aimed at encouraging the student to go on the mentioned website and so some extensive reading. It is recommended that this question be answered by the student himself/herself based on their own research.

Hint: During this period, Frost shifted base.

This answer requires the student to do his/her own research.

 A few guidelines

 Frost was born in 1874 so he was 38 years old at that time.

It was a difficult decision for him to make because he had just given up his job of farming and had a regular job as an English teacher first at Pinkerton Academy and New Hampshire Normal School.

He was 38 years old at that time.

Leaving his country and heading to a new land would mean that he would have to start a new life. A new home, looking for a new job, making new acquaintances and friends which would all be quite difficult.

No, the road Frost had taken was not an easy one to travel.

He was a born poet and writer. He first had to work on a farm so he did not find sufficient time to concentrate on his poetry and writing.

On selling his farm, he took up a job as an English teacher first at Pinkerton Academy and New Hampshire Normal School. In his spare time he wrote poetry.

Disappointed with the attention his poems received in America, he sailed to England to present his works to the readers there.

Once his reputation was established, he moved back to the US and set up a farm there and continued writing poems.

We can therefore see that Frost underwent a leap of faith by leaving a job that was lucrative for a profession that is fraught by uncertainty. He had his share of problems, but he opted for the road less traveled.

Frost began the poem "The Road not Taken" when he was in England. In England, Frost and his friend Thomas used to take long walks through forests and fields discussing nature and poetry. On their return, Thomas would always express a wish that they had taken another route. This inspired him to write this poem.

He completed the poem when he returned to America.

The following lines tell us that he wrote the poem after he sailed from England to America.

 "Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference!

Yes, Frost did finally become very popular in America.

He won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize and he went on to win three more Pulitzer prizes.

He was invited to recite his poem "The Gift Outright" at President John. F .Kennedy's inauguration in January 1961. They all point to the fact that Robert Frost was well received in America.