Analysis of Waiting -- Afield At Dusk

Robert Frost 1874 (San Francisco) – 1963 (Boston)



What things for dream there are when spectre-like,
Moving among tall haycocks lightly piled,
I enter alone upon the stubble field,
From which the laborers' voices late have died,
And in the antiphony of afterglow
And rising full moon, sit me down
Upon the full moon's side of the first haycock
And lose myself amid so many alike.
I dream upon the opposing lights of the hour,
Preventing shadow until the moon prevail;
I dream upon the night-hawks peopling heaven,
Each circling each with vague unearthly cry,
Or plunging headlong with fierce twang afar;
And on the bat's mute antics, who would seem
Dimly to have made out my secret place,
Only to lose it when he pirouettes,
And seek it endlessly with purblind haste;
On the last swallow's sweep; and on the rasp
In the abyss of odor and rustle at my back,
That, silenced by my advent, finds once more,
After an interval, his instrument,
And tries once-twice-and thrice if I be there;
And on the worn book of old-golden song
I brought not here to read, it seems, but hold
And freshen in this air of withering sweetness;
But on the memory of one absent most,
For whom these lines when they shall greet her eye.


Scheme ABCDEFGAHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYK
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111101 100111101 11001010101 11010010111 0001110 01011111 0101111011 0110111001 1101001011010 0101010101 1101011110 11001110101 110111101 0101110111 1011111101 101111101 011100111 101110101 0001110010111 110111111 1011001100 0111011111 0101111101 1111111111 010011110010 11010011101 1111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,167
Words 211
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 27
Lines Amount 27
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 914
Words per stanza (avg) 209
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

1:04 min read
326

Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. more…

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