Ghost House
I DWELL in a lonely house I knowThat vanished many a summer ago,And left no trace but the cellar walls,And a cellar in which the daylight falls,And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shieldThe woods come back to the mowing field;The orchard tree has grown one copseOf new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;The footpath down to the well is healed.I dwell with a strangely aching heartIn that vanished abode there far apartOn that disused and forgotten roadThat has no dust-bath now for the toad.Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;The whippoorwill is coming to shoutAnd hush and cluck and flutter about:I hear him begin far enough awayFull many a time to say his sayBefore he arrives to say it out.It is under the small, dim, summer star.I know not who these mute folk areWho share the unlit place with me--Those stones out under the low-limbed treeDoubtless bear names that the mosses mar.They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,--With none among them that ever sings,And yet, in view of how many things,As sweet companions as might be had.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- copse n.
- A wood of small growth; a thicket of brushwood. See Coppice. [Contr. from coppice.]
- chops n.
- The jaws; also, the fleshy parts about the mouth. [See Chop a jaw.]
- footpath n.
- A narrow path or way for pedestrains only; a footway.
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- cluck v. i.
- To make the noise, or utter the call, of a brooding hen. Ray. [AS. cloccian; cf. D. klokken, G. glucken, glucksen, LG. klukken, Dan. klukke; all prob. of imitative origin.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ghost House is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Boy's Will, Project Gutenberg ebook #3021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Frost, Ghost House, in A Boy's Will (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-boys-will/ghost-house.html, id L04620.
Form and metre
Ghost House is 30 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABBACCDDCEEFFEGGHHGIIJJIKKLLK. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 37% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBACCDDCEEFFEGGHHGIIJJIKKLLK knowA · agoA · wallsB · fallsB · growA · shieldC · fieldC · copseD · chopsD · healedC · heartE · apartE · roadF · toadF · dartE · shoutG · aboutG · awayH · sayH · outG · starI · areI · meJ · treeJ · marI · sadK · ladK · singsL · thingsL · hadK
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I DWELL in a lonely house I know | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| That vanished many a summer ago, | 9 | ·/˘/·/˘˘/ |
| And left no trace but the cellar walls, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And a cellar in which the daylight falls, | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow. | 10 | ··/˘··/·˘· |
| O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| The woods come back to the mowing field; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The orchard tree has grown one copse | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops; | 11 | ·······/·˘· |
| The footpath down to the well is healed. | 9 | ·/······· |
| I dwell with a strangely aching heart | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| In that vanished abode there far apart | 10 | ··/˘˘/··˘/ |
| On that disused and forgotten road | 9 | ··˘/·˘/˘· |
| That has no dust-bath now for the toad. | 9 | ········· |
| Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| The whippoorwill is coming to shout | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| And hush and cluck and flutter about: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| I hear him begin far enough away | 10 | ···˘/·˘/˘/ |
| Full many a time to say his say | 8 | ·/······ |
| Before he arrives to say it out. | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| It is under the small, dim, summer star. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I know not who these mute folk are | 8 | ········ |
| Who share the unlit place with me-- | 8 | ········ |
| Those stones out under the low-limbed tree | 9 | ········· |
| Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar. | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| They are tireless folk, but slow and sad, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| With none among them that ever sings, | 8 | ······/· |
| And yet, in view of how many things, | 8 | ······/· |
| As sweet companions as might be had. | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.