May 3

May 3/16 Studying “The Road Not Taken” – Frost

In your group or in smaller pairs, work through the questions given below:

  • Read the poem together
  • Summarize the stanzas/find the poem’s literal meaning
  • Identify the poem’s theme and purpose
  • Analyze specifically the most famous line
    “two roads diverged in a wood, and I / I took the one less traveled by” for meaning

    • debate meaning – personal choice or destined fate
    • Any other lines in the poem significant in hinting at meaning?
  • Analyze Ford Commercial –
    • summarize what is inferred by the commercial/ how does the commercial interpret the poem? Is it the same as your interpretation?
  • Read the Article “The Most Misread Poem in America” (link below)
    • What’s the error everyone makes in understanding this poem?
    • What’s the poem’s true meaning? Do you see it/understand it? Were you correct in your own understanding?
  • (Each) Write a blog post Comment reviewing what you’ve learned from studying this text and media. Formal paragraph writing
  • After: View any 2 of the student videos representing the poem (below)

The Road not Taken – Robert Frost

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.

 

 

Article: The Most Misread Poem in America

 

Viewing Activity:
Below are student video representations of the poem. If you have time after studying the poem and writing your comment below, you can watch the two videos and leave a second comment to this blog post explaining which you feel is a better representation of the poem. Be sure to support your answer with a specific reason. 

 

Tags: , ,

Posted May 3, 2016 by Waldner in category ELA B10

9 thoughts on “May 3/16 Studying “The Road Not Taken” – Frost

  1. Jadelyn

    I liked the second video with the two girls and their parents because I found it was a lot easier to follow along and it really tugged at my heart strings and the story line was a lot easier to follow along then the first video because in the end I could clearly tell what the two paths were and which one she decided to choose.

    Reply
  2. Sara sagen

    I like the second video the most. I think that it represents the poem more than the first. I found the first one was more confusing and it didn’t really connect as good to the true meaning.

    Reply
    1. Waldner (Post author)

      Hi Sara, if the two videos weren’t right here in this blog post, it would be difficult to understand from your reply which of the two videos you prefered. You could use a bit more detail to make it clear to your reader of your choice and reasoning. It seems there was a common preference for which video your group liked more.

      Reply
  3. Jessica

    After watching both the student made videos about the poem, I felt like I understood the second video with the blonde lady better. It made more sense then the other video because the other video with the dark hair lady was very confusing. I didn’t understand what her choice was in the end and I didn’t understand why she had a compass and was out in the woods like area. But the second video was a little confusing because I can’t decide if the blonde lady died or if she was the child but everything else kind of made more sense.

    Reply
  4. Calina

    I like the second poem more about the girl and her sister. It is hard to interpret but is a very interesting way of viewing the poem. It gives you an insight of a child who’s parents are fighting and it makes it hard on the kids. The other video is confusing and hard to understand

    Reply
  5. Sara Sagen

    After studying this insightful poem, The Road less taken, I’ve learned there’s a lot of deeper meanings to look into. When first reading over this poem it just comes across as someone traveling deciding where they want to explore. But Reading more into it, I discovered that this poem is really about life and the choices you take. Whether you take the one path many take, or if you travel the way that offers yourself many more opportunities. This is a metaphor of life choices. Because when considering where you’ll go in your future it is like you’re in a forest with different ways you could possibly take, inspiring yourself what best suits you. When analyzing this poem I did learn a lot, I developed an understanding that there’s deeper meanings to everything .

    Reply
  6. villib2015

    While analyzing the poem “The Road Not Taken”, I learned that somethiimes can have a whole other meaning than what it says. At first glance, the poem just seems to be about a person in a forest that comes to a crossroads and needs to decide which path to take. Thinking about the poem a bit more, it is actually about someone that needs to make a life decision. He considers the path that not many people have taken but he later finds out that they’re actually equal. He could choose to take the path that everyone else takes, or take the path that will offer many more chances or other paths that could lead to different opportunities. The entire poem is a metaphor relating to life choices. One choice could lead you to where you want to be, but it’s typically the road not taken.

    Reply
  7. Cole

    After reading and analyzing the poem “The Road Not Taken”, I found that it is a lot different than what everyone thinks the famous quote means. What I mean by this is that the quote “I took the road less traveled by” does not say that the person in the poem took the right path and supports individualism, but instead that they regretted their decison and was curious about the other path. This is interesting because, to me, it was quite clear that they had an internal struggle with their decision. Not that the decision was wrong, just that they wanted to know how their experiance would be different if they have chosen differently. This can change the entire message of the poem, since it is a metaphor for decisions and many may have thought that this was how they made decisions, by being different, but in reality, the message is that it is very difficult to make the right choice when you don’t know the outcomes of your actions.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Jadelyn Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*