On Screen p 5. The Road Not Taken. Extra Poem

The Road Not Taken is a poem by Robert Frost, published in 1915

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.

-Robert Frost-

Vocabulary

undergrowth: a mass of bushes and plants that grow close together under trees in woods and forests.

fair: acceptable and appropriate in a particular situation.



have a claim on somebody to have the right to demand time, attention, etc. from somebody. E.g. You have no claim on me any more.
 


wear: the amount or type of use that something has over a period of time. E.g. You should get years of wear out of that carpet. 

trodden:
tread trod trodden
tread something (+ adverb/preposition) to crush or press something with your feet. E.g. Don't tread ash into the carpet!  

The literal meaning of this poem by Robert Frost is pretty obvious. A traveller comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. After much mental debate, the traveller picks the road "less traveled by."
The figurative meaning is not too hidden either. The poem describes the tough choices people stand for when travelling the road of life.