NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 7 – The Road Not Taken
Page No 64:
Question 1:
Sometimes the choices we make have far-reaching consequences. Think about choices you make on a daily basis, and the importance of these choices.
Answer:
This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own.
Question 2:
Complete the web chart showing choices and decisions you may have to make in the next few years and the factors that affect these choices.
Share your choices and decisions with your partner.
Answer:
Question 3:
Have you made choices that are acceptable and less ‘risky’ or have you followed the beaten track? Why?
Answer:
A model answer has been provided for students’ reference.
It is strongly recommended that students prepare the answer on their own.
I have always followed the challenging way to achieve the most difficult of goals. I always believed in the fact that a victory is worth it if achieved with a lot of struggle, after overcoming various hurdles and obstacles. I never found interest in the easy way to achieve success in a task. Every task is worth a competition.
Question 5(b):
What choice did the poet have to make?
Answer:
The poet had to choose between two roads in the forest.
Question 5(c):
Did he regret his choice? Why/why not?
Answer:
The answer to this question is ambiguous. The mention of a “sigh” indicates that the poet regretted his choice. However, the satisfied expression in the line, “And that has made all the difference” compels us to think otherwise. So, it is very difficult to understand the mental state of the poet.
Page No 66:
Question 7(a):
In the poem, a traveler comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. Figuratively the choice of the road denotes ______________________.
(i) the tough choices people make the road of life
(ii) the time wasted on deciding what to do
(iii) life is like a forest
(iv) one must travel a lot to realize his dreams
Answer:
(i) the tough choices people make the road of life
Question 7(b):
The poet writes, ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.’ The word diverged means
_______________.
(i) appeared
(ii) curved
(iii) branched off
(iv) continued on
Answer:
(iii) branched off
Question 7(c):
The tone of the speaker in the first stanza is that of ______________.
(i) excitement
(ii) anger
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
(iv) sorrow
Answer:
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
Question 8(v):
The poet says “I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.” What is ‘the difference’ that the poet mentions?
Answer:
The difference is probably the degree of success which he has achieved and the amount of happiness and fulfilment he must have felt by travelling the unexplored way.
Question 8(iv):
Does the speaker seem happy about his decision?
Answer:
There is a certain ambiguity here. The speaker seems happy and satisfied when he says – “And that has made all the difference.” However, the sigh just before this makes us question his happiness.
Question 8(iii:
Which road would you choose? Why?
Answer:
A sample answer has been provided for students’ reference.
It is strongly recommended that students prepare the answer on their own.
I would always choose the path not tread upon before me. I like adventure and would want to explore new facets. I am always enthusiastic for venturing into something absolutely new, uncommon and unknown to the rest of the world.
Question 8(ii):
Which road does the speaker choose?
Answer:
The speaker chose the road which was less used. The road he chose seemed to tread upon lesser than the other. His road seems to be grassy as well while the other was not.
Question 8(i):
Describe the two roads that the author finds.
Answer:
Both the roads were covered with undergrowth. The one which the poet took was “grassy” and apparently less used and thus, wanted wear.
Question 9:
Find the rhyme scheme of the poem.
Answer:
Rhyme scheme in a poem is the pattern of rhyme formed in between the lines. It can also be explained as the pattern of end rhymes or lines. A rhyme scheme gives the scheme of the rhyme; a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem (the end words). It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme.
The rhyme scheme of the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost is a, b, a, a, b.
For instance,
| I shall be telling this with a sigh | a |
| Somewhere ages and ages hence: | b |
| Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- | a |
| I took the one less travelled by, | a |
| And that has made all the difference. | b |
Page No 67:
Question 10:
Fill in the blanks to complete the following paragraph that deals with the theme of the poem. Use the words given in the box below:
The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is about the ___________that one makes in life. It tells about a man who comes to a ______________in the road he is travelling upon. He feels ____________that he cannot travel ________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 ____________he wishes to take in life. As he thinks about his __________he looks down one path as far as he can see trying to ________________ 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 ___________. At this point he concludes that the trail that has been less travelled on would be more _________ 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 _____________ 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 ________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.
decision
|
sorry
|
foresee
|
choices
|
pleasant
|
direction
|
fork
|
trail
|
rewarding
|
chance
|
wonder
|
both
|
Answer:
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 trail 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.
Question 11:
Roads are fascinating as metaphors for life, change, journeys, partings, adventure, etc. or simply as roads. This is probably why they, and all their attendant images, have permeated art, literature and song. In the poem, Frost uses the fork in the road as a metaphor for the choices we make in life. Thus the roads are, in fact, two alternative ways of life. What other nouns could be used to represent life?
- River
- ________________
- ________________
- ________________
- ________________
Answer:
Pointers have been provided for students’ reference.
It is strongly recommended that students prepare the answer on their own.
- River
- Brook
- Moon
- Rose
- Candle, etc.
Question 12:
In groups of six, select, write the script of and present a skit that demonstrates decision making and conflict resolution. Follow the steps given below:
- choices to be made
- options to be considered
- the influence of others
- the decisions/actions taken
- the immediate and future consequences of the decision.
Answer:
This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own.
Page No 68:
Question 13:
The Road Not Taken is biographical poem. Therefore, some personal biographical information is relevant to the deeper understanding of the poem we have read. Go to www.encarta.com and complete the following worksheet about Robert Frost.
(a) What “momentous decision” was made by Frost in 1912?
(b) How old was he when he had to make this decision?
(c) Why was it so difficult to make this decision? Think and give more than one reason.
(d) Was the “road” Frost had taken easy “to travel”?
(e) Do you think he wrote “The Road Not Taken” before sailing from the USA to England or after?
(f) Can you quote a line or two from the poem that can support your answer?
(g) Do you think Frost finally became popular in America as a poet?
Answer:
This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own.
