The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
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Symbol: choices in life / make a decision
universal questions of life (p.183)
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Feel confused: Am I right?
In a dilemma: freedom vs. duty
ethics vs. peer pressure
Unable to make a decision  afraid of getting hurt
Face major life ritual: teenage  adulthood 
fatherhood
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;
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Everyone is travelling in the life journey.
Sometimes we need a rest, taking a breath and
thinking about what we’re going to do next.
This is not exactly because of being physically
fatigued but perhaps spiritual tiredness.
Repetition: adding musical quality
Implied meaning: bent
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
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Suddenly, I made a different decision,
because the second road was just as fair as the
first one.
Or rather, this is more recommendable,
desirable, or appealing to me.
Personification: road can claim?!
Implied meaning: grassy; wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
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What is inferred?
We are afraid of different outcome, unexpected
expectation.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
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Implied meaning: equally
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Everyone has equal chance to choose, and that
is the freedom we are granted. However, once
making the decision, we shouldn’t feel regret.
We must learn to take responsibility. That is
life.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
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The speaker finally made the decision. He
chose the second one!
Though doubtful of the future uncertainty, the
speaker realized that s/he couldn’t regret once
the decision was made.
Implied meaning: how way leads on to way
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.
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Implied meaning: sigh
The choice/decision made at that moment (一念
之間) has made all the difference. Whether it is
good or not, we all have to take the consequence.
The Road Not Taken
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『沒有走的路』
What is inferred?
The road not taken vs. the road the speaker
actually took
“Poetry should contain contrasts and lead to a
clarifying of experience.”
有得必有失，有捨方有得。
Though I didn’t take the first road, I feel great
on another different road.
Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know
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原句：I think I know whose woods these are.
whose怎麼來的呢？
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These are someone’s woods. => 改成疑問句
These are whose woods.  Whose woods are these?
間接問句不倒裝: I know whose woods these are.
Q: Does the speaker actually get acquainted
with the owner of the woods?
His house is in the village though;
(so) He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
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though (adv.) = however
fill up with也可以改成become filled up with
snow (fill up with與be filled up with通用)
然而阿，林子主人的房子在村莊裡，他不會看
到我停在這裡欣賞這片積雪盈盈的樹林。
Q: Can you read between the lines? What
comment may the speaker give to the owner of
the woods?
Q: Why doesn’t the poet visit the
owner? Instead, he just stopped in
the woods to see the falling snow.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
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The poet is not in the mood of visiting people.
He probably thinks of the owner of this woods as a
short-sighted man who lives in the village, leaving
this beauty deserted.
My little horse must think it queer
[To stop without a farmhouse near]
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
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it  dummy object, referring to [to stop…]
think it OC to V / think it OC that 子句
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other verbs：believe, consider, make, find
Ex: 我發現跟Tom講話很好玩。
I find [to talk with Tom] interesting.
= I find it interesting [to talk with Tom].
The speaker’s horse might think, “It is dark now.
We are surrounded with chilliness and desolation
only! Why not keep going?” So…
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
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He = the little horse, the only one (visible)
companion of the speaker
Inference: Even the speaker’s fellow traveler
(horse) can not understand the speaker’s true
feeling and intention.
Thus, here come the following two.
The only other sound is the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
Q: The poet doesn’t respond to his horse. Why?
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
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◆ What penetrates this
bleak and desert forest
is just the sound made
by the quick move of
the wind and the soft
falling snow in large
flakes.
It seems very hard for the speaker to find a bosom friend, or a soul
mate.
Therefore, in the next stanza, s/he mentioned “I have promises to
keep”  對真正瞭解自己的友人之承諾，在此更可解釋成對
自己的承諾
So, what’s the exact intention the speaker would like to express?
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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儘管這片樹林是多麼地lovely，我還是想繼續持守我的諾言，再
走數哩才能安眠。
對詩人而言，這片林子是alluring/fascinating/appealing/attractive
他很想停下來好好欣賞，好好去探險(所以才會說dark and deep)，
無奈連他最要好的小馬都不瞭解他的心意，於是，不如信守原
先對自己(或是對他人)的承諾繼續前行，期能日後與知音共同欣
賞這片幽林。
Promise象徵未盡的責任或一生所追求的理想，miles則是指奮鬥
的過程，sleep則有死亡的象徵。
 在enjoy freedom之前，是得先fulfill duty (履行職責)的
Q: What else wisdom can be inferred from this poem?
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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For ordinary people, woods are dreary, dreadful, and dangerous.
But for those who are farsighted, for the greats, for giants, or for
anyone who can be appreciative of the nature,
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lovely: The essence of Nature is beauty.
dark: This woods is filled up with challenge. This woods is worth a visit. We
must adventure it.
deep: profound  We can learn from Nature, which is rich in wisdom and
philosophy for human beings.
Agree or not?
A good poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.
The End
Q&A