4. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A? A “Soon after, our house was totally destroyed.” ( Paragraph 4) B “Our dad took us out of the country” ( Paragraph 5) C “We escaped that night in a rented car.” ( Paragraph 5) D “We crossed the border illegally, through the mountains.” ( Paragraph 6)

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.