#49 The Road not taken (23/04/2020)

Paraphrasing of the last stanza

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence;

According to Frost, he has a doubt in his mind whether he will be able to come back or not. But, it he comes back after ages he will be telling to the people with a sigh about his decision/choice.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

According to Frost, when he returns back he will be telling with a sigh about his decision. This sigh may be of happiness or remorse (पश्चाताप). But he will be telling people with pride that two roads diverged in a forest and he had taken the road which was less travelled and that had made difference in his life.

Special note-- Roads in this poem are the symbols of choices/decisions which we make in our life. Our decisions make a great impact on our lives. Generally we follow our elders' experiences. We walk on that path which they have already walked on. But Robert Frost walked on that path which was travelled by less people.In this poem Robert Frost is talking of his decision of coming back to America. `At the beginning when he did not get success as a poet, he migrated to England. There he became very famous as a poet. Returning back to America from there was not a wise decision but he took that risk and became a great poet of America.

Message--- The message is that we should not join sheep-walk. It is always not necessary to follow others. Sometimes we should choose the different ways also as per our interest. There may be hurdles in the way but the success coming out of that is very sweet. Even if we do not succeed, we may get good experience. 

#48 Class 12 An elementary school classroom in a slum(23/04/2020)

Paraphrasing II stanza

And yet, for these children, these windows, not this map their world,

Map is the symbol of world. But for these slum children this map is not the world. For them, the windows of their classroom are the world because they have not gone out of these windows.


Where all their future is painted with a fog.

For these children, the world is limited to their classroom windows only. Their future is painted with a fog means nothing is clear about their future.

A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky

Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.

Their world is limited to a narrow street where their slum is. The lead sky has sealed their street. The sky is full of lead because of pollution. They are very far away from rivers and other water bodies. These rivers and capes appear to them like distant stars which have been mentioned in their books only.