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.
Mountain Interval (1920) | Robert Frost (1874–1963)
Suggestions
Ask your students to do one or more of the following:
- Read the poem aloud.
- Determine the rhyme scheme (ABAAB).
- Copy the poem on Drawing and Writing paper. Illustrate the drawing with a representative illustration.
- Older students can rewrite the poem as a descriptive narrative essay. To make this an easier task, invent an ending. What did the traveler find at the end of his road?
- Younger students can orally narrate the poem.
- Create an author page for Frost.
- Older students can compare and contrast this poem to “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
- Read and analyze some of his other poems:
- This is a frequently misunderstood poem. Frost originally meant the poem as a joke sent to a friend with whom he often walked. The friend would always lament that they should have taken the other path. Frost was giving him a hard time for always crying over “what might have been.”1 But we want to take the “road less traveled by” because that will “make all the difference.” Why is that? Compare and contrast the wide road with the narrow road.
Additional Resources
Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost
We love these books. The point of the book is to introduce young students to poetry at an early age. It takes the mystery out of poetry, making it accessible. So don’t expect detailed poetical analysis. Simply read and enjoy. There is a fruitful payoff over time….
Author Notebooking Paper
Create an author page for Robert Frost.
14 Forms of Writing for the Older Student: Poetry
Ideas for doing more with the poem.
