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，