Question

Assignment in progress for 1070 9813 Language Arts 8 B
Due February 22, 2026 at 11:59 PM
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
1916
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Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet whose poems often depict rural scenes from the New England countryside. "The Road Not Taken" is one of Frost's most well-known poems.
As you read the poem, identify the imagery the speaker uses to describe the setting.

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.

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is in the public domain.


Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under theCC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Notes
AllDefinitionsFootnotes
Diverge (verb) : to separate from another route or go in a different direction
a dense growth of shrubs and other plants, especially under trees in woodland
lacked
crushed, flattened, or walked upon

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Assessment Questions
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How do lines 9-12 affect the meaning of the poem?


A. The speaker admits that both roads were untraveled, revealing that the indecisive speaker never chose a road.
B. The speaker admits that the two roads were actually similar, suggesting that one choice was not clearly better than the other.
C. The speaker admits that the first road was actually more traveled than the second, suggesting that he made the wrong choice.
D. The speaker admits that the two roads were actually just one, revealing that the speaker is lying about having to make a difficult choice.
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Answer 1

B. The speaker admits that the two roads were actually similar, suggesting that one choice was not clearly better than the other.

Lines 9–12 say the paths had “worn them really about the same” and both were covered with untouched leaves, which undermines the idea that one road was distinctly less traveled and shows the choice was between two similar options.