Pea Brush
I walked down alone Sunday after churchTo the place where John has been cutting treesTo see for myself about the birchHe said I could have to bush my peas.
The sun in the new-cut narrow gapWas hot enough for the first of May,And stifling hot with the odor of sapFrom stumps still bleeding their life away.
The frogs that were peeping a thousand shrillWherever the ground was low and wet,The minute they heard my step went stillTo watch me and see what I came to get.
Birch boughs enough piled everywhere!--All fresh and sound from the recent axe.Time someone came with cart and pairAnd got them off the wild flower's backs.
They might be good for garden thingsTo curl a little finger round,The same as you seize cat's-cradle strings,And lift themselves up off the ground.
Small good to anything growing wild,They were crooking many a trilliumThat had budded before the boughs were piledAnd since it was coming up had to come.
Words in this poem
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- trillium n.
- A genus of liliaceous plants; the three-leaved nightshade; -- so called because all the parts of the plant are in threes. [NL.; cf. L. trilix triple-woven, triple.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pea Brush 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, Pea Brush, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/pea-brush.html, id L02649.
Form and metre
Pea Brush is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% 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 ABAB churchA · treesB · birchA · peasB
- 2 ABAB gapA · mayB · sapA · awayB
- 3 ABAB shrillA · wetB · stillA · getB
- 4 ABAB everywhereA · axeB · pairA · backsB
- 5 ABAB thingsA · roundB · stringsA · groundB
- 6 A-A- wildA · trillium · piledA · come
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I walked down alone Sunday after church | 10 | ···˘//···· |
| To the place where John has been cutting trees | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To see for myself about the birch | 9 | ····/···· |
| He said I could have to bush my peas. | 9 | ········· |
| The sun in the new-cut narrow gap | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Was hot enough for the first of May, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| And stifling hot with the odor of sap | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| From stumps still bleeding their life away. | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| The frogs that were peeping a thousand shrill | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Wherever the ground was low and wet, | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| The minute they heard my step went still | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| To watch me and see what I came to get. | 10 | ·········· |
| Birch boughs enough piled everywhere!-- | 9 | ··˘/·˘/˘· |
| All fresh and sound from the recent axe. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Time someone came with cart and pair | 8 | ·/······ |
| And got them off the wild flower's backs. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| They might be good for garden things | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To curl a little finger round, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The same as you seize cat's-cradle strings, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And lift themselves up off the ground. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Small good to anything growing wild, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| They were crooking many a trillium | 10 | ··/˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| That had budded before the boughs were piled | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And since it was coming up had to come. | 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.