English 102

READING

The Road Not Taken

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:

QUESTIONS

1. Write a paragraph-long objective summary for the reading you have selected.

2. Next, answer the following questions below about the reading you have selected:

What happens in the story, poem, or play?

What are the most important events?

What sorts of people are the main characters?

What especially pleased you or displeased you in the story, poem, or play?

Do you have any thoughts about the work's title? Is it significant? Explain.

What is the function of the setting in this story or play?

Why has this (or these) character(s) been introduced?

What is the author trying to tell us?

How has this idea been developed and made more complex?

How exactly can we describe the work's tone?

What is the difference in assumptions between this [work] and another one?

3. Use your responses to the questions above to develop your ideas for analysis or choose a prompt for writing as explained in the assignment directions for the argument essay, and start working on brainstorming, topic development, research inquiry, and outlining. Submit one to two page (double-spaced) analysis of your plan composed of the objective summary and analysis responses.