Lesson 15 The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

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.

（144 words）

Exercises

這首名詩《The Road Not Taken》形式是傳統的抑揚格四音步，但音步可變（含有不少抑抑揚的成分）；每節的韻式為abaab。弗羅斯特寫詩最大的特色就是善于運用眼前看似平淡無奇的事物，表達一個深刻的哲理。這正如他在一首詩中寫的：“黃色的樹林里分出兩條路／可惜我不能同時去涉足／我選擇了人跡更少的一條／這就造成了一切的差異。”詩人選擇了詩歌，放下了在一所師范學校教書的職業以及那種可能平坦、安穩的生活。他對自己說：寫詩吧，窮就窮吧，于是他就來了英國，在離倫敦不遠的一個村子里找到了一座木板茅屋作為新家。

羅伯特·弗羅斯特（Robert Frost）堪稱美國20世紀最受歡迎的詩人之一，是美國非官方的桂冠詩人。他一生致力于詩歌的創作，主要寫作并出版了10部詩集。這一首是其第三部詩集《山的間隔》中的名篇。

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