Analysis of On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations
Robert Frost 1874 (San Francisco) – 1963 (Boston)
You'll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,
Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.
The planets seem to interfere in their curves -
But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.
We may as well go patiently on with our life,
And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun
For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.
It is true the longest drout will end in rain,
The longest peace in China will end in strife.
Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.
Scheme | ABCABCDEDFFEGGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111101 110010010111 001011111001 01011111101 1111011101111 0101101011 11010101111 1111110011101 0111110101 101010111111 11101011101 01010101101 1110010101101 01110011101 110100101001 11110011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 785 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 613 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 148 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 233 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30887/on-looking-up-by-chance-at-the-constellations>.
Discuss this Robert Frost poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In