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Robert FrostA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
During the Modernist period, most poets writing in English either abandoned traditional poetic forms or used them sparingly within a larger free-verse construct. However, Frost never strayed from traditional forms. (In fact, he reputedly said he would just as soon write in free verse as play tennis with the net down.) “‘Out, Out—’” is composed in blank verse, the form popularized by Shakespeare. Blank verse consists of lines in iambic pentameter that are unrhymed. Iambic pentameter consists of five iambic feet; the iamb is one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. As such, the first line of the poem scans in this manner:
The buzz | saw snarled | and rat | tled in | the yard (Line 1).
However, readers often note Frost’s colloquial language; that is, it sounds like common speech rather than florid or ornate poetry. This is no small feat to render verse in a fixed form that echoes ordinary speech, and it is one of the factors that makes Frost’s work at once so approachable and also so poetic.
By Robert Frost
Acquainted with the Night
Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost
After Apple-Picking
After Apple-Picking
Robert Frost
A Time To Talk
A Time To Talk
Robert Frost
Birches
Birches
Robert Frost
Dust of Snow
Dust of Snow
Robert Frost
Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Mending Wall
Mending Wall
Robert Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost
October
October
Robert Frost
Once by the Pacific
Once by the Pacific
Robert Frost
Putting in the Seed
Putting in the Seed
Robert Frost
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
The Death of the Hired Man
The Death of the Hired Man
Robert Frost
The Gift Outright
The Gift Outright
Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
West-Running Brook
West-Running Brook
Robert Frost