Going for Water
THE well was dry beside the door,And so we went with pail and canAcross the fields behind the houseTo seek the brook if still it ran;Not loth to have excuse to go,Because the autumn eve was fair(Though chill), because the fields were ours,And by the brook our woods were there.We ran as if to meet the moonThat slowly dawned behind the trees,The barren boughs without the leaves,Without the birds, without the breeze.But once within the wood, we pausedLike gnomes that hid us from the moon,Ready to run to hiding newWith laughter when she found us soon.Each laid on other a staying handTo listen ere we dared to look,And in the hush we joined to makeWe heard, we knew we heard the brook.A note as from a single place,A slender tinkling fall that madeNow drops that floated on the poolLike pearls, and now a silver blade.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Going for Water 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, Going for Water, in A Boy's Will (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-boys-will/going-for-water.html, id L04637.
Form and metre
Going for Water is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 -A-A-BCBDC-C-D-D-E-E-F-F door · canA · house · ranA · go · fairB · oursC · thereB · moonD · treesC · leaves · breezeC · paused · moonD · new · soonD · hand · lookE · make · brookE · place · madeF · pool · bladeF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THE well was dry beside the door, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And so we went with pail and can | 8 | ········ |
| Across the fields behind the house | 8 | ˘/······ |
| To seek the brook if still it ran; | 8 | ········ |
| Not loth to have excuse to go, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Because the autumn eve was fair | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (Though chill), because the fields were ours, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And by the brook our woods were there. | 8 | ····/··· |
| We ran as if to meet the moon | 8 | ········ |
| That slowly dawned behind the trees, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The barren boughs without the leaves, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Without the birds, without the breeze. | 8 | ········ |
| But once within the wood, we paused | 8 | ········ |
| Like gnomes that hid us from the moon, | 8 | ········ |
| Ready to run to hiding new | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| With laughter when she found us soon. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Each laid on other a staying hand | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| To listen ere we dared to look, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And in the hush we joined to make | 8 | ········ |
| We heard, we knew we heard the brook. | 8 | ········ |
| A note as from a single place, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A slender tinkling fall that made | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Now drops that floated on the pool | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like pearls, and now a silver blade. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.