1. Where does the traveller find himself? What problem does he face?

2. Discuss what these phrases mean to you.

(i) a yellow wood

(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear

(iii) the passing there

(iv) leaves no step had trodden black

(v) how way leads on to way

3. Is there any difference between the two roads as the poet describes them (i) in stanzas two and three? (ii) in the last two lines of the poem?

4. What do you think the last two lines of the poem mean? (Looking back, does the poet regret his choice or accept it?)

1. The traveller finds himself at a forked road while travelling in a yellow wood. He faces the problem of choosing between the two roads as he could not travel both at the same time.

2.(i) The phrase ‘a yellow wood’ signifies the autumnal setting of the poem.

(ii) The grass on the road that the poet decides to take was still afresh and the road seemed less worn out. This implies that not many people had walked on it.

(iii)This refers to the people passing through that road.

(iv) This means that there were no footmarks on the leaves strewn on the paths since nobody had walked on them.

(v) Here, the poet refers to the fact that one road always leads on to another and so on.

3. (i) In stanzas two and three, the poet, vaguely expresses the similarities but at the same time, tries to determine the differences between the two roads. He says that although the second road seemed 'just as fair' and almost as same worn-out as the first yet it was somehow the 'better claim' since it was still afresh and less-trodden. That morning, both the roads were equally strewn with leaves that had not yet been trampled by the travellers.

(ii) According to the last two lines of the poem, one of the two road was 'less travelled by' than the other and the poet's decision to walk on this road made all the difference in his life.

4. In the last two lines, the poet says that he chose the less-trodden road and that this choice made all the difference in his life. Whether he regrets his choice or accepts it is ambiguous. The poet uses word ‘difference’, which does not clarify the implication, whether good or bad. However, the word 'sigh' suggests that the decision was possibly more of regret than satisfaction.