1. Read before discussion. Come with something to say or ask about the poem. Know the elements of poetry and use them in discussion. Demonstrate your understanding of literary terminology.

2. 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.Four stanzas 2.End rhyme patterns (abaab) 3.Internal rhymes 4.Use of imagery 5.Shift in difference 6.Tone 7.Metaphor 8.Symbolism 9.Point of View 10.Title – Which road is emphasized? 11.Paraphrase the meaning

3. 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. Sound effects Alliteration [Alliteration is the repetition of first letters.] Note the two ‘L’ sounds in this quote: ‘lay in leaves’. This sound helps to emphasize the amount of fallen leaves in the wood. Note the two ‘w’ sounds in this quote: ‘wanted wear’. This sound helps to emphasize the smoothness of the fallen leaves in the wood.

4. 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. Assonance [Assonance is repetition of vowels.] Note fourteen various ‘o’ vowels in the first stanza. In particular note the four ‘o’ vowels in the first line: ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood’. Assonance creates a musical effect. Consonance [Consonance is repetition of consonant sounds.] Note the seventeen ‘l’ and ‘ll’ sounds in the poem. In particular, note the three ‘l’ sounds in the following: ‘equally lay in leaves’. This repetition emphasizes the way leaves covered the forest roads. Consonance is also a musical effect.

5. 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. Sibilance [Sibilance is repetition of ‘s’ sounds. It is consonance involving ‘s’.]. Note the ten ‘s’ sounds in the second stanza. In particular, note the three ‘s’ sounds in each of these quotes: ‘as just as fair’ and ‘because it was grassy’. This sibilance emphasizes the beauty and freshness of the scene in the wood. It creates a musical effect. Rhyming There is a regular rhyming pattern in this lyric. The pattern is as follows: abaab cdccd efeef ghggh. In this pattern the first, third and fourth line of each stanza rhyme. The second and fifth lines of each stanza rhyme. For example in the first stanza, the two end sounds are ‘ud’ and ‘oth’. Remember that the spelling doesn’t make the rhyme but the sound does.

6. 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. Internal Rhyme [Internal Rhyme is a word or sound rhyming within a line] Note how the word ‘way’ occurs twice in this line: ‘how way leads on to way’. Note the repetition of ‘ages’ in this line: ‘Somewhere ages and ages hence’. Cross Rhyme [a word or sound rhyming across two or more lines] Note the sound ‘assy’ repeated in this quote: ‘Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there’.

7. 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. Rhythm There is a regular rhythm created by the four beats per line. For a detailed view of Rhythm in Frost’s poetry read the notes on 'Mending Wall’. Each line has the same beat. Most lines in this poem contain eight syllables.'Mending Wall’ Even this line of ten syllables is typical of the tempo or beat: ‘Because… it was grassy… and wanted… wear’. [Two syllables…four syllables…three syllables…one syllable] Note the four units of sound that the voice divides the line into. This is the tempo or beat of the line. In each beat, there is one stressed or loud syllable. The regular rhyming and other sound effects help to maintain this regular rhythm. The run on lines and everyday phrases help make the poem seem very natural to the ear. The majority of the lines have no pauses or caesura. Full stops, commas and colons in the middle of a line create a pause, known as a caesura, in the middle of the line. These pauses slow the rhythm to show feelings of tension or indecision. In some lines, the rhythm is broken by a caesura. This demonstrates the poet’s indecision. The following quote is a good example of this tendency: ‘Then took the other, as just as fair’. The comma interrupts the rhythm and can be called a caesura. This pause shows hesitation as the poet makes a difficult choice. Thus, rhythm matches meaning. Always connect rhythm to meaning if you choose to comment on it.

8. 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. Rhythm Rhythm is a complex aspect of Frost’s poetry. Mostly, writers of student notes make a brief reference to rhythm and leave it at that. But in a Frost poem, rhythm needs to be explained in detail. Frost used rhythm to create meaning. You’ve got to use your ear to judge the rhythm. So, read the poem aloud. Frost had a complex attitude to rhythm. He claimed that he wanted to represent the rhythm of ordinary speech in his poems. But he was also a conservative. That means that he tried to write poetry according to the rules of the great poets he had read. In the past, most poets used the rhythm known as iambic pentameter. This is apparent in his poem “Mending Wall.” What it means is that the beat of each line is based on a unit of sound known as an iambic foot. The iambic foot has two syllables. The second syllable of the pair is the loudest. In other words, it is a stressed syllable. A line of poetry with five of these iambic feet is known as iambic pentameter. ‘Penta’ comes from the Greek word for five. In traditional poetry, the most popular type of line had ten syllables. Usually such lines were divided into five pair of syllables for the purpose of beat or rhythm. This is the beat that Frost admired and tried to use in his poetry. You can see iambic pentameter in many of Frost’s lines.

9. 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.Four stanzas 2.End rhyme patterns (abaab) 3.Internal rhymes 4.Use of imagery 5.Shift in difference 6.Tone 7.Metaphor 8.Symbolism 9.Point of View 10.Title – Which road is emphasized? 11.Paraphrase the meaning