Maharashtra Board Class 9 English Unit Three Chapter 3.3 The Road Not Taken PDF Download

The Road Not Taken

Warming Up!

After your SSC Exams/Result you may have to take a decision regarding the choice of a career. What factors will you consider?

Choose from the block below and complete the web-diagram.

Is the option easy/difficult?

Your capability

Your likes/dislikes

Friends' decision

Parents' profession

Your skills/inborn talents

Study the 'Job Profile' carefully

Easy money

Possible difficulties

Your ultimate aim

Form pairs or groups of four. Think of the situations when you have to choose between two things. Make a list of those situations. Some of them may be minor or trivial things - for example, what to wear when going out. Some choices may be related to important things, for example, having to decide between games and studies, whether to confront a close friend about something that he/she did, owning up to your mistakes, etc.

Discuss how to decide what to choose.

Write what you feel when your decision proves right.

Write what you feel when you regret the decision.

Teacher's Note

Decision-making is very important in life. Just like your parents decide what school you should go to, you will soon decide your own career path.

Exam Trick

Remember: The poem "The Road Not Taken" is about making choices. Think of it like choosing between two subjects - once you pick one, you might not get time for the other.

Points to Remember

Decision-making means choosing between two or more options.

We should think about our skills and interests before making big choices.

Sometimes we cannot do both things at the same time.

Our choices shape our future.

The Road Not Taken

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;

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 travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

Why does the poet feel sorry?

Did the poet choose the road quickly?

Was one of the roads better than the other?

Does the poet tell us what difference it made?

diverge: separate and go in different directions

wanted wear: needed to be used

Teacher's Note

This famous poem by Robert Frost teaches us about making choices. Just like when you choose between two subjects in school, the poet has to choose between two roads.

Exam Trick

Remember: "The one less travelled by" means a choice that is different and brave. Think of it like choosing a unique hobby that not many people do.

Points to Remember

The poet cannot travel both roads at the same time.

Both roads look almost the same to the poet.

The poet chooses the road that is less used.

Our choices change the direction of our life.

English Workshop

Read the poem again. Does it have a uniform rhyme scheme throughout?

Write down the rhyme scheme of every stanza separately.

1st stanza

2nd stanza

3rd stanza

4th stanza

Write the symbols that are used in the poem to represent the following ideas.

Choice of two options

I made a rare choice

Equally good options

It was tempting and needed to be tried

Some other time

Rearrange the following facts in the proper order and fill in the flow chart.

He chooses the one barely travelled.

Choosing the lesser-used road has made a great difference.

He observed one, as far as he could.

The traveller came to a fork in the road

He planned to travel along the previous one some other time.

Teacher's Note

Understanding a poem means reading it carefully and answering questions about it. This helps us learn the lesson the poet wants to teach.

Exam Trick

Remember: When you read a poem, always look for the rhyme words (words that sound the same). Also, find the symbols - things that mean something bigger in the poem.

Points to Remember

A rhyme scheme shows which lines rhyme with each other.

Symbols in poems are objects or ideas that have special meaning.

We can arrange events in the correct order to understand a story better.

The flow chart helps us see the order of events clearly.

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