An Encounter
Once on the kind of day called "weather breeder,"When the heat slowly hazes and the sunBy its own power seems to be undone,I was half boring through, half climbing throughA swamp of cedar. Choked with oil of cedarAnd scurf of plants, and weary and over-heated,And sorry I ever left the road I knew,I paused and rested on a sort of hookThat had me by the coat as good as seated,And since there was no other way to look,Looked up toward heaven, and there against the blue,Stood over me a resurrected tree,A tree that had been down and raised again--A barkless spectre. He had halted too,As if for fear of treading upon me.I saw the strange position of his hands--Up at his shoulders, dragging yellow strandsOf wire with something in it from men to men."You here?" I said. "Where aren't you nowadaysAnd what's the news you carry--if you know?And tell me where you're off for--Montreal?Me? I'm not off for anywhere at all.Sometimes I wander out of beaten waysHalf looking for the orchid Calypso."
Words in this poem
- breeder n.
- One who, or that which, breeds, produces, brings up, etc.
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
- barkless a.
- Destitute of bark.
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- nowadays adv.
- In these days; at the present time. [For now on (OE. an) days. See A-, 1.]
- orchid n.
- Any plant of the order Orchidaceæ. See Orchidaceous. [See Orchis.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Encounter is in the public domain. This text is taken from Mountain Interval, Project Gutenberg ebook #29345; 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, An Encounter, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/an-encounter.html, id L02653.
Form and metre
An Encounter is 24 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBCADCEDECFGCFHHGIJKKIJ. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBCADCEDECFGCFHHGIJKKIJ breederA · sunB · undoneB · throughC · cedarA · heatedD · knewC · hookE · seatedD · lookE · blueC · treeF · againG · tooC · meF · handsH · strandsH · menG · nowadaysI · knowJ · montrealK · allK · waysI · calypsoJ
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Once on the kind of day called "weather breeder," | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| When the heat slowly hazes and the sun | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| By its own power seems to be undone, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| I was half boring through, half climbing through | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A swamp of cedar. Choked with oil of cedar | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And scurf of plants, and weary and over-heated, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| And sorry I ever left the road I knew, | 10 | ·/˘·/····· |
| I paused and rested on a sort of hook | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That had me by the coat as good as seated, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And since there was no other way to look, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Looked up toward heaven, and there against the blue, | 11 | ····/······ |
| Stood over me a resurrected tree, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| A tree that had been down and raised again-- | 10 | ········˘/ |
| A barkless spectre. He had halted too, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| As if for fear of treading upon me. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I saw the strange position of his hands-- | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Up at his shoulders, dragging yellow strands | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Of wire with something in it from men to men. | 11 | ·/·/˘······ |
| "You here?" I said. "Where aren't you nowadays | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| And what's the news you carry--if you know? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And tell me where you're off for--Montreal? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Me? I'm not off for anywhere at all. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sometimes I wander out of beaten ways | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Half looking for the orchid Calypso." | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/· |
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.