In the space provided below, describe the surface meaning of "the road not taken" in your own words. 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 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.

when one reads literature and poetry, there are two types of meanings one can get from a reading—connotations and denotations.  connotation is the meaning that can be somewhat hidden and is implied, and denotation is the literal meaning (or “surface meaning” as you mention), which requires no literary analysis.  that said, if one were looking for the surface meaning of the poem, “the road not taken,” what would need to be done is to literally state what going on in poem.  for example, within the poem there is a person who, when walking, comes to a fork in a road.  he or she describes each road then indicates that road decided upon was the road that seemed to be less traveled.  thus, for future assignments requiring you provide the surface meaning of a poem, remember that what is being asked is for you to provide denotation.  

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