Open Response INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE
CHECK
Culminating Free Response Question
Determine the figurative and connotative meanings of the following words and phrases as they
are used in "The Road Not Taken":
- fair
- claim
- grassy
- "wanted wear"
Explain how these words and phrases add to the meaning of the choice the speaker makes in the
second stanza of the poem.
In your response, be sure to:
• determine the figurative and connotative meanings of "fair," "claim," "grassy," and "wanted
wear"
• explain how the words and phrases add to the meanings of the choice the speaker makes in the
second stanza
• use details from the poem to support your answer
39

The courage that my mother had went with her, and is with her still: rock from new england quarried; now granite in a granite hill. the golden brooch my mother wore she left behind for me to wear; i have no thing i treasure more: yet, it is something i could spare. oh, if instead she'd left to me the thing she took into the grave! - that courage like a rock, which she has no more need of, and i have. based on the 2nd stanza, how does the speaker feel about the golden brooch that was passed down from the mother to child? question 2 options: a: the speaker thinks it was a waste of money b: the speaker places a high value on the item c: the speaker never wears the brooch d: the speaker feels it could be easily replaced