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.

1. Discuss the following questions.

1) Why does the poet call the wood “yellow wood”?

2) Who is the traveler? Why does he feel sorry?

3) Why does the poet look down the road as far as he can see?

4) Does the poet take the road that he was looking at in the first stanza?

5) Why does the other road have better claim?

6) Is it easy for the poet to make a choice?

7) In the first stanza, the poet is talking of the present time when he has to choose one of the two roads. What time is he thinking of in the last stanza? Find lines to support your answer.

8) What has made all the difference?

9) What do the two roads stand for in the poem?

10) Does the poem relate to some situations in your life when it was not easy for you to take a decision?

2. Pair Work: Read the following Chinese translation of the poem and discuss how it is good. Try to give your own translation and compare it with your partner’s.

未选择的路

（美）弗罗斯特 顾子欣 译

黄色的树林里分出两条路，

可惜我不能同时去涉足，

我在那路口久久伫立，

我向着一条路极目望去，

直到它消失在丛林深处。

但我却选了另外一条路，

它荒草萋萋，十分幽寂，

显得更诱人、更美丽，

虽然在这两条小路上，

都很少留下旅人的足迹，

虽然那天清晨落叶满地，

两条路都未经脚印污染。

呵，留下一条路等改日再见！

但我知道路径延绵无尽头，

恐怕我难以再回返。

也许多少年后在某个地方，

我将轻声叹息把往事回顾，

一片树林里分出两条路，

而我选了人迹更少的一条，

从此决定了我一生的道路。

Notes

1.Washington Irving (1783-1859): He is considered to be the father of American literature. With the masterpieces of “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, he won international fame and was regarded as the first American who made short stories a very effective artistic and narrative form.

2.King George (1738-1820): George III, King of Great Britain and Hanover, who was largely responsible for the loss of the American colonies. He went mad, and after 1811 his son, the Prince of Wales, later George IV, acted as Regent.

3.George Washington (1732-1799): He is the first president of the United States.

4.Bunker’s Hill: A hill in Boston where the Continental Army men resisted the British troops during the War of American Independence.

5.Tory: The forerunner of the British Conservative Party. Tories were hostile to the new nation of USA.

6.Kate Chopin (1850-1904): Kate Chopin, born Katherine O’Flaherty, was an American author of short stories and novels. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century.

7.Robert Frost (1874-1963): He was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His works frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century with complex social and philosophical themes.

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