Analysis of They Were Welcome To Their Belief

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



Grief may have thought it was grief.
Care may have thought it was care.
They were welcome to their belief,
The overimportant pair.

No, it took all the snows that clung
To the low roof over his bed,
Beginning when he was young,
To induce the one snow on his head.

But whenever the roof camme white
The head in the dark below
Was a shade less the color of night,
A shade more the color of snow.

Grief may have thought it was grief.
Care may have thought it was care.
But neither one was the thief
Of his raven color of hair.


Scheme ABab cdcd efef ABab
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1111111 1111111 10101101 011 11110111 10111011 0101111 101011111 10100111 0100101 101101011 01101011 1111111 1111111 1101101 11101011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 515
Words 106
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 102
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 03, 2023

31 sec read
126

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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    Who is the author of the renowned poem collection "Leaves of Grass"?
    A Walt Whitman
    B Langston Hughes
    C Robert Frost
    D Emily Dickinson