Analysis of For Once, Then, Something

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



Others taught me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Gives me back in a shining surface picture
Me myself in the summer heaven godlike
Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs.
Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb,
I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
Something more of the depths--and then I lost it.
Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,
Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?
Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.


Scheme ABCCBDECFGCHIJB
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 10111101111 1110111010 10100111010 11100101010 110010101 10110111011 11101101011 10111101010 10100101010 10110101111 10110101110 11110101010 1101111110 11101111110 10101111110
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 694
Words 128
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 548
Words per stanza (avg) 126
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

38 sec read
320

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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