Revelation
WE make ourselves a place apartBehind light words that tease and flout,But oh, the agitated heartTill someone find us really out.'Tis pity if the case require(Or so we say) that in the endWe speak the literal to inspireThe understanding of a friend.But so with all, from babes that playAt hide-and-seek to God afar,So all who hide too well awayMust speak and tell us where they are.
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Revelation 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, Revelation, in A Boy's Will (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-boys-will/revelation.html, id L04638.
Form and metre
Revelation is 12 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEF. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% 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. 58% 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 ABABCDCDEFEF apartA · floutB · heartA · outB · requireC · endD · inspireC · friendD · playE · afarF · awayE · areF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WE make ourselves a place apart | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Behind light words that tease and flout, | 8 | ········ |
| But oh, the agitated heart | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Till someone find us really out. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| 'Tis pity if the case require | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| (Or so we say) that in the end | 8 | ········ |
| We speak the literal to inspire | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The understanding of a friend. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But so with all, from babes that play | 8 | ········ |
| At hide-and-seek to God afar, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| So all who hide too well away | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Must speak and tell us where they are. | 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.