American Poetry: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (1915)

• Engels
• Voortgezet speciaal onderwijs
• Leerroute 4

Welcome to Mrs Everstijn's (online) classroom

Necessities:

• Laptop / mobile phone
• Student's handout
  
• pen
  
• divide the class in 2
  

Learning objectives:

• Students can predict a poem's theme by reading its title. 
  
• Students can learn the settings of this poem by visualizing images.
  
• Students can compare and contrast textual details and cite them to support their own inference.

Exam objectives:

* determine theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text.

* cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

* determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text.

LITERATURE - POETRY:

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (1916).

Looking at the title of the poem what central idea or theme do you guess the poem will include?

What does this title make me think of?

LITERATURE - POETRY:

What do you remember about Frost's biography?

What do you not understand about Frost's biography?

Through peer mediation students help one another to obtain full comprehension.

Who:  

What: 

How:  

Help:  

Time: 

Result:

Done:  

individual

linguistic meaning

vocabulary - p10  (next slide)

dictionary.cambridge.org

5 minutes

literary analysis

help group members

Literature:

LITERATURE - POETRY:

Vocabulary:

Yellow wood (Line 1)

undergrowth(Line 5)

fair(Line 6)
claim(Line 7)

wanted wear (Line 8)

 

passing(Line 9)

trodden (Line 12)

hence (Line 17)
diverged (Line 18)

* yellow wood = geel bos => herfstkleur

* undergrowth = struikgewas (onder de bomen in een bos)

* fair = mooi

* claim = aanspraak

* wanted wear = wilde gebruikssporen = impliceert dat er geen gebruikssporen zijn => mooier en minder gekozen.

* passing = passeren / voorbij gaan (soms refereert dit naar tijd of naar de dood).

* trodden = bewandeld (draf = trod)

* hence = (ouderwets woord) (from this time) na het verstrijken van ?? periode.

* diverged = uiteen lopen

*

What do you think is the focus of the poem?

1. making a decision
2. the person making the decision

LITERATURE - POETRY:

What other literary work do you know that includes 'duality'?

Showing the importance of background knowledge + multiple interpretations/perspectives.

LITERATURE - POETRY:

"Poetry is when emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words"

by Robert Frost

A poem is the expression of emotion in concentrated language. => inferencing & interpreting = different perspectives

LITERATURE - POETRY:

What is a 'simile'?

What is a 'metaphor'?

Showing the importance of background knowledge + multiple interpretations/perspectives.

LITERATURE - POETRY:

What is a 'simile'?

What is a 'metaphor'?

Showing the importance of background knowledge + multiple interpretations/perspectives.

LITERATURE - POETRY:

2nd reading (by students)

• Anything that stands out to you?
• Anything that needs clarifying?
  

Students read poem outloud = practise speaking & pronunciation.

LITERATURE - POETRY:

Reading comprehension (p10):

• Who is this poem about?
• How do you know?
• Which lines show this?
  

Students read poem outloud = practise speaking & pronunciation.

LITERATURE - POETRY:

Resiliencies:

Insight; asking questions of yourself even when the questions are difficult. If you answer honestly, you can learn and move forward.
Independence; keeping a healthy distance between yourself and other people so you can think things through and do what is best for you.
Relationships; finding connections with people that are healthy for both of you and keeping those relationships growing.
Initiative; taking control of the problem and working to solve it.

Creativity; you use your imagination or resourcefulness to express your feelings, thoughts and plans in some unique way.
Humour; the ability to find something funny (especially yourself) in a situation, even when things seem really bad.
Morality; knowing the difference between right and wrong and being willing to choose and stand up for what is right.

Insight; asking questions of yourself even when the questions are difficult. If you answer honestly, you can learn and move forward.
Independence; keeping a healthy distance between yourself and other people so you can think things through and do what is best for you.
Relationships; finding connections with people that are healthy for both of you and keeping those relationships growing.
Initiative; taking control of the problem and working to solve it. Asking questions of yourself and answering them as honestly as you can, so you can move past a sticky situation.
Creativity; you use your imagination or resourcefulness to express your feelings, thoughts and plans in some unique way.
Humour; the ability to find something funny (especially yourself) in a situation, even when things seem really bad.
Morality; knowing the difference between right and wrong and being willing to choose and stand up for what is right.

Who:  

What: 

How:  

Help:  

Time: 

Result:

Done:  

Groups (appr 4)

How does this poem illustrate resiliencies? (p10)

divide resiliencies & scan poem (p9)

each other

5 minutes

Class discussion (appr 5 min)

discuss found info with your group

Literature:

This learning activity is related to exam objectives with reference to themes & interpreting text & finding detailed information.

Who:  

What: 

How:  

Help:  

Time: 

Result:

Done:  

individual

themes & interpreting text

Add information to student's handout - resiliencies (p10)

none

3 minutes

literary analysis

help group members

Literature:

Who:  

What: 

How:  

Help:  

Time: 

Result:

Done:  

individual

literary analysis

Add information to student's handout (p11 - 13)

group members

remaining time

in-depth analysis of Still I Rise

help group members

read novel

work on other literary analysis

Literature:

LITERATURE - POETRY:

Robert Frost’s poem is often interpreted as an anthem of individualism and nonconformity, seemingly encouraging readers to take the road less traveled... But as Frost liked to warn his listeners, “You have to be careful of that one; it’s a tricky poem—very tricky.” In actuality, the two roads diverging in a yellow wood are “really about the same,” according to Frost, and are equally traveled and quite interchangeable.

In fact, the critic David Orr deemed Frost’s work “the most misread poem in America,” writing in The Paris Review: “This is the kind of claim we make when we want to comfort or blame ourselves by assuming that our current position is the product of our own choices… The poem isn’t a salute to can-do individualism. It’s a commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of our own lives.” In the final stanza, we can’t know whether the speaker is sighing with contentedness or regret as he justifies the choices he’s made and shapes the narrative of his life.

Students read poem outloud = practise speaking & pronunciation.

LITERATURE - POETRY:

Frost wrote the poem to tease his chronically indecisive friend, Edward Thomas, who misinterpreted the meaning and enlisted in the military shortly thereafter, only to be killed two years later in WWI.

Students read poem outloud = practise speaking & pronunciation.

What do you think?
The poem is ...

1. a salute to can-do individualism
2. a commentary on the self-deception

LITERATURE - POETRY:

Any questions?

Students read poem outloud = practise speaking & pronunciation.

Name another example in
literature, movies or historical event
in which resilience is shown.

When were you resilient?

What have you learned today?

Extra assignment:

Watch a video of a famous singer/band/spoken word performer who was inspired by the poem Still I Rise. Comment on the performance, include arguments.

More resources:

• "Still I Rise" and Today's America— Read about the relevance and meaning of "Still I Rise" to America today. (https://www.mic.com/articles/90129/maya-angelou-s-still-i-rise-holds-a-powerful-lesson-for-today-s-america)
• The Political Power of "Still I Rise"— Learn how the poem has remained relevant for contemporary political figures and celebrities. (https://qz.com/1668570/history-ofmaya-angelous-still-i-rise/)
• "Still I Rise" Art Exhibit— Learn how other artists have been inspired by and responded to Angelou's poem. (https://massmoca.org/event/still-i-rise/)