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8.) Your group needs to go to google documents and open a shared document. 9.) Paste the poem from poetry foundation. 10.) Each person in the group should talk about symbolism and meaning from different parts of the poem. I will grade you on ideas working well together, and new and interesting thoughts.

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7.) Read these guidelines about things to think about for explicating. 8.) Write out a list on a separate sheet of paper of questions you might ask yourselves when commenting on the poem

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This is not the only way, but this is essentially the process I go through, and you might find it works for you.

I think of the poem, or the text I'm working with, as something I want to examine, or even dissect, taking it apart to see how it works, exploring the effect of the language. Then, by the time I finish writing, I will have put the poem back together in such a way that my reader also shares my understanding or reading.

Procedure

1. Read the poem over, several time, preferably aloud.

2. Paraphrase the poem, rewriting it in prose using your own words. Yes, the poem loses a lot this way, but paraphrasing will help you concentrate on the meaning.

3. Copy the poem onto a fresh sheet of paper, leaving lots of space between and around the lines, and number the lines. This sheet is your analytic laboratory where you will examine the poem, using the following questions to guide your own observations and analytic skills. You will use this sheet to brain storm about the meaning of the poem before you decide on a thesis and start writing.

Things to Look At and For

1. Rhyme And Structure: Look at the structure of the poem, the way the stanzas, lines, rhymes and meters are formed. If it's a sonnet, does it seem to fall into either the Shakespearean form or the Petrarchan? Is it a combination ? Something unique (Spenser created his own rhyme scheme)? How do the units of meaning, the "plot" correspond to the structure? If it's a sonnet, pay particular attention to sonnet types and forms. Analyze the meter, including the stress patterns. Look at the meter, paying particular attention to the unexpected, the departures from the dominant meter. Does the poem use end stop lines, caesuras, enjambment? How do the meter and rhythm reinforce the meaning?

2. Imagery: Imagery in general means words or phrases that refer to a sensory experience. What kinds of references are there to information derived from the senses? Is one sense emphasized more than another?

3. Theme: What is the theme? What, in broad terms, is the poem about? You might also ask yourself what the poet's thesis would be if she were writing in prose. Sometimes a theme will rely on one or more smaller ideas or motifs, like carpe diem, or ubi sunt, but these are used to reinforce a large theme, like the importance of enjoying life or love to its fullest because life is finite, or the inevitability of change and mortality in this world. There are, of course, many other themes besides these. In a sonnet, especially, you may find a conceit, an extended metaphor that runs throughout the poem.

4. Speaker: Who is speaking in the poem? Who is the audience? Is there a dramatic situation involved? Is the speaker to be trusted, or is he flawed by bias or a limited perspective? What is the the poet's tone? Happy? Ironic? Bitter? Be particular aware of an ironic point of view-when the poet or speaker appears to say one thing but under close examination, really means something quite different.

5. Language: Be aware of both the meaning of the words (denotation) and the implications of the words (connotation). Have any of the words changed meaning between since the time of the poet? You might find the Oxford English Dictionary useful since it documents the way English words have been used through time. Is the diction, the choice of words, formal or informal? Colloquial? Are there puns?

6. Syntax: Syntax, the order of the words, is important. Is the syntax unusual? Are words out of the order you would expect them to be? Does the syntax make the meaning ambiguous? What effect does the syntax have? Remember to look for parallelism as well as for unusual syntax.

7. Figurative Language: Sometimes these patterns and techniques are referred to as rhetorical figures. They include metaphor and simile, allusion, hyperbole, paradox, etc.

8. Sound: Look for the use of sound-alliteration, assonance, consonance-how do they support the meaning? Consider the use of rhyme and meter.

Writing the Paper

Don't forget to look at the suggestions in the prompt itself. Follow the instructions about paper formats in the syllabus.

1. Look at your notes. Come up with a statement that encapsulates the meaning of the poem, or a particular idea that runs through it that you think you can write a paper about. That statement is the first version of your thesis, and your paper must have a thesis statement. You don't want to write a paper that is nothing more than your observations, however good they are, you want a paper that argues that those observations prove something. Don't use a mindless list like "Donne uses alliteration and puns to create a masterful work of art in "Holy Sonnet 5." That's not a thesis. That's an assertion that, while probably true, is true about a great texts, and doesn't lead to a greater point. Find something interesting to say that is special and specific about the particular text.

2. You needn't bother with footnoting each references to your poem. Establish the poem and author you are working with in your first paragraph, with a footnote/endnote, or "works cited" (follow the assignment instructions) then when you quote the poem, simply use a parenthetical reference to the line number or numbers like this when you quote (ll. 1-4).

3. Be specific. The only thing as important as having a thesis, is that you use specific details, not just extended paraphrase and summary. Show how the poem works. Don't just tell me, show me.

4. Use the present tense. Works of literature or other art are timeless in that they never die; in effect, this also confers immortality on authors or other artists. Rather than writing "Sidney said in line 4 that . . ." write "Sidney says in line 4 that . . ."

5. Avoid unnecessary uses of the verb "to be" in your essay. That includes "am, is, are, was, were, being." Here are some alternatives: suggests, asserts, characterizes, shows, dramatizes, presents, connects, argues, emphasizes, implies, illustrates. You will note that these are not synonyms-choose carefully.

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This is not the only way, but this is essentially the process I go through, and you might find it works for you. I think of the poem, or the text I'm working with, as something I want to examine, or even dissect, taking it apart to see how it works, exploring the effect of the language.

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6.) Get your partners (group of 3) and read this explication of the poem of spark notes to get an idea of what you guys will comment on in your final document.

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SparkNotes: Frost's Early Poems: "The Road Not Taken"

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A summary of "The Road Not Taken" in Robert Frost's Frost's Early Poems. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Frost's Early Poems and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.

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5.)After watching/reading about his life, and his poem, take this fun quiz about his life and screenshot and print your results.

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The Literature Network: Online classic literature, poems, and quotes. Essays & Summaries

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Subscribe for ad free access & additional features for teachers.Authors: 267, Books: 3,607, Poems & Short Stories: 4,435, Forum Members: 71,154, Forum Posts: 1,238,602, Quizzes: 344

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4.) Knowing about Frost may help you get a better idea of what his deeper meanings could be. Watch this video or read this biography about Frost.

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Who Was Robert Frost?

Robert Frost was an American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes. Famous works include "Fire and Ice," "Mending Wall," "Birches," "Out Out," "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and "Home Burial." His 1916 poem, "The Road Not Taken," is often read at graduation ceremonies across the United States. As a special guest at President John F. Kennedy 's inauguration, Frost became a poetic force and the unofficial "poet laureate" of the United States.

Frost spent his first 40 years as an unknown. He exploded on the scene after returning from England at the beginning of World War I. He died of complications from prostate surgery on January 29, 1963.

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Early Years

Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. He spent the first 11 years of his life there, until his journalist father, William Prescott Frost Jr., died of tuberculosis.

Following his father's passing, Frost moved with his mother and sister, Jeanie, to the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. They moved in with his grandparents, and Frost attended Lawrence High School.

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After high school, Frost attended Dartmouth College for several months, returning home to work a slew of unfulfilling jobs.

Beginning in 1897, Frost attended Harvard University but had to drop out after two years due to health concerns. He returned to Lawrence to join his wife.

In 1900, Frost moved with his wife and children to a farm in New Hampshire - property that Frost's grandfather had purchased for them-and they attempted to make a life on it for the next 12 years. Though it was a fruitful time for Frost's writing, it was a difficult period in his personal life, as two of his young children died.

During that time, Frost and Elinor attempted several endeavors, including poultry farming, all of which were fairly unsuccessful.

Despite such challenges, it was during this time that Frost acclimated himself to rural life. In fact, he grew to depict it quite well, and began setting many of his poems in the countryside.

Wife

Frost met his future love and wife, Elinor White, when they were both attending Lawrence High School. She was his co-valedictorian when they graduated in 1892.

In 1894, Frost proposed to White, who was attending St. Lawrence University, but she turned him down because she first wanted to finish school. Frost then decided to leave on a trip to Virginia, and when he returned, he proposed again. By then, White had graduated from college, and she accepted. They married on December 19, 1895.

White died in 1938. Diagnosed with cancer in 1937 and having undergone surgery, she also had had a long history of heart trouble, to which she ultimately succumbed.

Robert Frost's Children

Frost and White had six children together. Their first child, Elliot, was born in 1896. Daughter Lesley was born in 1899.

Elliot died of cholera in 1900. After his death, Elinor gave birth to four more children: son Carol (1902), who would commit suicide in 1940; Irma (1903), who later developed mental illness; Marjorie (1905), who died in her late 20s after giving birth; and Elinor (1907), who died just weeks after she was born.

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Robert Frost's Early Poetry

In 1894, Frost had his first poem, "My Butterfly: an Elegy," published in The Independent, a weekly literary journal based in New York City.

Two poems, "The Tuft of Flowers" and "The Trial by Existence," were published in 1906. He could not find any publishers who were willing to underwrite his other poems.

In 1912, Frost and Elinor decided to sell the farm in New Hampshire and move the family to England, where they hoped there would be more publishers willing to take a chance on new poets.

Within just a few months, Frost, now 38, found a publisher who would print his first book of poems, A Boy's Will, followed by North of Boston a year later.

It was at this time that Frost met fellow poets Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, two men who would affect his life in significant ways. Pound and Thomas were the first to review his work in a favorable light, as well as provide significant encouragement. Frost credited Thomas's long walks over the English landscape as the inspiration for one of his most famous poems, "The Road Not Taken."

Apparently, Thomas's indecision and regret regarding what paths to take inspired Frost's work. The time Frost spent in England was one of the most significant periods in his life, but it was short-lived. Shortly after World War I broke out in August 1914, Frost and Elinor were forced to return to America.

Public Recognition for Frost's Poetry

When Frost arrived back in America, his reputation had preceded him, and he was well-received by the literary world. His new publisher, Henry Holt, who would remain with him for the rest of his life, had purchased all of the copies of North of Boston. In 1916, he published Frost's Mountain Interval, a collection of other works that he created while in England, including a tribute to Thomas.

Journals such as the Atlantic Monthly, who had turned Frost down when he submitted work earlier, now came calling. Frost famously sent the Atlantic the same poems that they had rejected before his stay in England.

In 1915, Frost and Elinor settled down on a farm that they purchased in Franconia, New Hampshire. There, Frost began a long career as a teacher at several colleges, reciting poetry to eager crowds and writing all the while.

He taught at Dartmouth and the University of Michigan at various times, but his most significant association was with Amherst College, where he taught steadily during the period from 1916 until his wife's death in 1938. The main library is now named in his honor.

For a period of more than 40 years beginning in 1921, Frost also spent almost every summer and fall at Middlebury College, teaching English on its campus in Ripton, Vermont.

In the late 1950s, Frost, along with Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot, championed the release of his old acquaintance Ezra Pound, who was being held in a federal mental hospital for treason due to his involvement with fascists in Italy during World War II. Pound was released in 1958, after the indictments were dropped.

Robert Frost's Most Famous Poems

Some of Frost's most well-known poems include:

"The Road Not Taken"

"Birches"

"Fire and Ice"

"Mending Wall"

"Home Burial"

"The Death of the Hired Man"

"Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening"

"Acquainted with the Night"

"Out, Out"

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Pulitzer Prizes and Awards

During his lifetime, Frost received more than 40 honorary degrees.

In 1924, Frost was awarded his first of four Pulitzer Prizes, for his book New Hampshire. He would subsequently win Pulitzers for Collected Poems (1931), A Further Range (1937) and A Witness Tree (1943).

In 1960, Congress awarded Frost the Congressional Gold Medal.

Photo: George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images

President John F. Kennedy's Inauguration

At the age of 86, Frost was honored when asked to write and recite a poem for President John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration. His sight now failing, he was not able to see the words in the sunlight and substituted the reading of one of his poems, "The Gift Outright," which he had committed to memory.

Soviet Union Tour

In 1962, Frost visited the Soviet Union on a goodwill tour. However, when he accidentally misrepresented a statement made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev following their meeting, he unwittingly undid much of the good intended by his visit.

Robert Frost's Death

On January 29, 1963, Frost died from complications related to prostate surgery. He was survived by two of his daughters, Lesley and Irma. His ashes are interred in a family plot in Bennington, Vermont.

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Robert Frost was an American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes. Famous works include "Fire and Ice," "Mending Wall," "Birches," "Out Out," "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and "Home Burial." His 1916 poem, "The Road Not Taken," is often read at graduation ceremonies across the United States.

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3.) Brush up on your poetry terms here before writing your paper on symbolism in this poem.

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Poetry terms and studying different words for their meter. Learn with flashcards, games, and more — for free.

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1.) Read and print Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," 2.) underline things that you think could symbolize deeper meanings.

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The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost | Poetry Foundation