Analysis of Asking for Roses
Robert Frost 1874 (San Francisco) – 1963 (Boston)
A house that lacks, seemingly, mistress and master,
With doors that none but the wind ever closes,
Its floor all littered with glass and with plaster;
It stands in a garden of old-fashioned roses.
I pass by that way in the gloaming with Mary;
'I wonder,' I say, 'who the owner of those is.'
'Oh, no one you know,' she answers me airy,
'But one we must ask if we want any roses.'
So we must join hands in the dew coming coldly
There in the hush of the wood that reposes,
And turn and go up to the open door boldly,
And knock to the echoes as beggars for roses.
'Pray, are you within there, Mistress Who-were-you?'
'Tis Mary that speaks and our errand discloses.
'Pray, are you within there? Bestir you, bestir you!
'Tis summer again; there's two come for roses.
'A word with you, that of the singer recalling--
Old Herrick: a saying that every maid knows is
A flower unplucked is but left to the falling,
And nothing is gained by not gathering roses.'
We do not loosen our hands' intertwining
(Not caring so very much what she supposes),
There when she comes on us mistily shining
And grants us by silence the boon of her roses.
Scheme | ABAB CBCB CBCB DBDB EBEB EBEB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 011110010010 11111011010 11110110110 110010111010 111110010110 110111010111 11111110110 111111111010 111110011010 100110111 010111010110 011010110110 11101110101 1101101010010 1110111111 11001111110 011111010010 1100101100111 01011111010 010111110010 11110101100 110110111010 111111110 011110011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,135 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 188 Views
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"Asking for Roses" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30836/asking-for-roses>.
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