Analysis of A Line-Storm Song

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



The line-storm clouds fly tattered and swift,
The road is forlorn all day,
Where a myriad snowy quartz stones lift,
And the hoof-prints vanish away.
The roadside flowers, too wet for the bee,
Expend their bloom in vain.
Come over the hills and far with me,
And be my love in the rain.

The birds have less to say for themselves
In the wood-world’s torn despair
Than now these numberless years the elves,
Although they are no less there:
All song of the woods is crushed like some
Wild, easily shattered rose.
Come, be my love in the wet woods; come,
Where the boughs rain when it blows.

There is the gale to urge behind
And bruit our singing down,
And the shallow waters aflutter with wind
From which to gather your gown.
What matter if we go clear to the west,
And come not through dry-shod?
For wilding brooch shall wet your breast
The rain-fresh goldenrod.

Oh, never this whelming east wind swells
But it seems like the sea’s return
To the ancient lands where it left the shells
Before the age of the fern;
And it seems like the time when after doubt
Our love came back amain.
Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.


Scheme ababcdcD efefghgh ijijklkl mnmnodoD
Poetic Form
Metre 011111001 0110111 1010010111 00111001 011011101 011101 110010111 0111001 011111101 0011101 1111101 111111 111011111 1100101 111100111 1011111 11011101 0110101 00101001011 1111011 1101111101 011111 11011111 01110 11011111 11110101 1010111101 0101101 0111011101 101111 111010101 0111001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,151
Words 217
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 224
Words per stanza (avg) 54
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 28, 2023

1:05 min read
212

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…

All Robert Frost poems | Robert Frost Books

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