In a Disused Graveyard

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



The living come with grassy tread
To read the gravestones on the hill;
The graveyard draws the living still,
But never anymore the dead.
The verses in it say and say:
"The ones who living come today
To read the stones and go away
Tomorrow dead will come to stay."
So sure of death the marbles rhyme,
Yet can't help marking all the time
How no one dead will seem to come.
What is it men are shrinking from?
It would be easy to be clever
And tell the stones: Men hate to die
And have stopped dying now forever.
I think they would believe the lie.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

33 sec read
286

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACCCCDDEEFGFG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 537
Words 110
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

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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