Poem-1 The Road Not Taken
STANZA 1
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;
Questions :
(i) Name the poem and the poet.
(ii) Where was the poet standing ?
(iii) Why did he feel sorry ?
(iv) Where did the poet look for long time ?
(v) Find in the passage a word that means ‘took a turn’.
Answer
(i) Poem- ‘The Road Not Taken’
Poet- 'Robert Frost'
(ii) The poet was standing at a place where two roads diverged.
(iii) He felt sorry because he could not travel the both roads.
(iv) The poet looked at one road for a long time.
(v) Diverged.
STANZA 2
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.
Questions :
(i) Which road did the poet take, first or the other?
(ii) What was the condition of the road?
(iii) Which road has a better claim for selection?
(iv) What is the name of the poem?
(v) What is the name of the poet?
Answer
(i) The poet took the other road.
(ii) It was grassy.
(iii) The second road has a better claim for selection.
(iv) The name of the poem is ‘The Road Not Taken.’
(v) The name of the poet is ‘Robert Frost’.
STANZA 3
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.
Questions :
(i) What is the name of the poem from which these lines have been taken?
(ii) Who is the poet of these lines?
(iii) How many roads diverged in a wood?
(iv) Which road did the poet take?
(v) What has made all the difference?
Answer
(i) These lines have been taken from the poem ‘The Road Not Taken.’
(ii) 'Robert Frost' is the poet of these lines.
(iii) Two roads diverged in a wood.
(iv) He took the road which was less travelled by.
(v) The selection of the road has made all the difference.
A slumber did my spirit seal-
I had no human fears
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthy years.
No motion has she now, no force-
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees
(a) Name the poem and the poet?
(b) Who does 'I' refere in this stanza?
(c) Who does 'she' refer to in this stanza?
(d) Why can't she hear or see?
(e) What do your understand by 'spirit'?
When the humid shadows hover
Over all the starry spheres
And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps in rainy tears,
What a bliss to press the pillow
Of a cottage-chamber bed
And lie listening to the patter
Of the soft rain overhead!
Questions:
2. What does the poet mean by "humid shadows"?
3. What is the poet's reaction to the darkness?
4. According to the stanza, what does the poet consider a "bliss"?
5.Identify the poetic device used in the phrase "starry spheres."
Wind, come softly. Don’t break the shutters of the windows.
Don’t scatter the papers.
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.
There, look what you did — you threw them all down.
You tore the pages of the books.
You brought rain again.
Questions:
- Who is the poet addressing in these lines?
- Name the poem and the poet.
- What four destructive things did the wind do in this stanza?
- How does the poet want the wind to come?
- What does the wind symbolize in a human's life?