1a. What is freedom, according to the speaker in "Freedom"? What are most of the people in the world living by?
2a. What is the speaker of "The Road Not Taken" sorry about in line 2? Where does the speaker look in lines 4 and 5? How does the speaker describe the two roads?
3a. What advice does the speaker in "Freedom" give to the reader about how to make decisions and how to view luck? What does the speaker say has "made all the difference" in his or her life?
1b. What do you think the speaker means by the contradictory statements in line 1 and line 2? Why do you think the speaker might wish he or she could "argue" with most of the people in the world, as suggested in the second stanza?
2b. Why do you think he or she is sorry about this? What does the speaker wish that he or she could do in life? Why does the speaker choose one of the roads over the other?
3b. Why is it important to make decisions and to regard luck in this way? Why does the speaker of "The Road Not Taken" doubt that he or she will ever come back to that fork in the road?
4a. Compare and contrast how the speakers in each of these poems might respond to the following statement: "Even when people are free, they do not have complete control of what happens in their lives." Support your answer with evidence from the poems.
4b. According to the speaker of "The Road Not Taken," what happens as a result of making an important decision? What does one give up by choosing one path over another? What is the risk involved with being free to make one's own decisions?
5a. Explain what the speakers of each of these two poems would say about the best way to live one's life.
5b. If you were the speaker in "Freedom," how would you attempt to be free? If you were the speaker in "The Road Not Taken," which path would you have chosen, and why?
Theme. What is the theme of "Freedom"? What is the theme of "The Road Not Taken"? How are the themes of the poems similar? Explain, giving examples to support your opinion.
Allegory. "The Road Not Taken" can be read as an allegory. If the road that the speaker is on at the beginning of the poem represents a path through life, what does the fork in the road represent? Explain what you think the following elements of the poem might symbolize: the road; the fork in the road; the undergrowth; the grassiness of one of the roads; the speaker's decision to take one of the roads.
1. Write your personal creed, or rules to live by. How do the limits you place on yourself restrict your freedom?
2. Write a poem about your own journey through life so far. It can be either free verse or rhyming.
3. Imagine that a friend has asked you to explain Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." Write a brief summary of the poem, using everyday language.
Completers for Linking Verbs. For each sentence below, identify the subject, the linking verb, and the completer.
Example My sister is a gymnast. sister (sub); is (lv); gymnast (comp)
1. Freedom is wonderful.
2. The man felt sorry.
3. Both paths were leaf-covered.
4. I became discouraged.
5. A journey can be a life-changing experience.
6. Life is full of choices.
7. Autumn is a beautiful time of year in New England.
8. The apples from the orchard taste wonderful.
9. The woman grew despondent when she reflected on her mistakes.
10. The man was happy with his decision.
Antonym Game. An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word. For example, take is an antonym of the word give. In this game, work in pairs or in small groups to practice coming up with antonyms. Using the poems "Freedom" and "The Road Not Taken," one person should select a word from one of the poems and say it aloud. The partner (or group member) should respond as quickly as possible with an antonym. For example, if the first person says diverged, the response might be converged.
1. Word: 1. Antonym(s):
2. Word: Antonym(s):
3. Word: Antonym(s):
4. Word: Antonym(s):
5. Word: Antonym(s):
6. Word: Antonym(s):
7. Word: Antonym(s):
8. Word: Antonym(s):
9. Word: Antonym(s):
