you need to relax lol .... most poetry is like modern art - it is not concrete and no one interpretation is right or wrong ...
It's just stimuli to provoke a response from the reader (you) & thats what they want to see in your writing - that you have thought about it, that you have decided on what you think it means and that you can use quotes to back up your point fo view.
"1. how could we know if the traveler had started his journey?
p.s. when i read some other threads, most of them suggest that the traveler HAVENT started to continue the path he'd chosen while some say HAD. unfortunately my teacher didnt tell us anything about this question...>< can you tell you wat your teathers say and why please.``"
The poem is in present tense until the end, where switches to future (
I shall be telling) then past tense(
I took the one less traveled). You could argue from that that:
a: he is still in the present and hence has not actually had the payoff from the journey that he speaks of - ie is just starting the journey
B: that he did complete the journey once in the past, and is now actually writing the poem about this experience hence the past tense of "and that made all the difference"
C: as an extention of b he did go on the journey and the tenser change from present to future to past is to give cyclic effect, signifying the perpetual nature of the journey
D: whatever else you can pull out of it that makes sense and can be logically justified by either the content or stucture of the poem
"2. how could we know the first path (the one benting in the undergrowth) had been stepped by lots of people?
p.s. the similar reason as q1. i can only understand there is less man taking the second path (the one grassy and wanted wear) but i really really cannot get the evidences proving the less taken of the first path."
One is flattened - have you every walked out in a tall grassy field - you can see from how much or how flattened the grass on the paths through if the path is commonly walked on or not.. "one was grassy and wanted wear" - the less trampled of the two ... but this poem isnt about a walk in the field (unless you want it to be) ...
think symbology - two roads diverging - a fork in the road - a decision to be made - a well travelled decision (easy) vs the lesser travelled decision (harder) .. the payoff from taking the hard honest (pick your cliche) choice "and that has made all the difference"
"3. stanza 2, line 2:
'and having perhaps the
better claim'
what dose the bold indicate? is that means the seond path is easier to take than the first one? "
if you want
lol ... or the opposite - it's the more challenging & rewarding ?
"3.why did the traveler chose the seond path?
p.s. is it because the second path is seemed to be a little bit easier when comparing with the first one, although it is actually hard too? or just because the traveler 'want to make some special'? or anything else....?"
re thr other points ... pick for yourself
jyust remember that he later equates the two saying that neither was "harder/easier/worse/better" "though as for that the passing had worn them really about the same". this is not to say that the different choice was about the same,on the contrary the choosing certainly was difficult and is perhapse the whole point of the poem ?
"4. stanza 4, line 1&2:
'i shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence'
could you change them in simpler words for me? thx!"
i will remember this/tell this story fondly when im older;therefore:......
"5. what is the main idea of the poem?"
you have to pick an angle... if you dont it will be evident that you dont believe what you are writing & u wont get the marks
