Putting in the Seed
You come to fetch me from my work to-nightWhen supper's on the table, and we'll seeIf I can leave off burying the whiteSoft petals fallen from the apple tree.(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea;)And go along with you ere you lose sightOf what you came for and become like me,Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.How Love burns through the Putting in the SeedOn through the watching for that early birthWhen, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,
The sturdy seedling with arched body comesShouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.
Words in this poem
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- seedling n.
- A plant reared from the seed, as distinguished from one propagated by layers, buds, or the like.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Putting in the Seed 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, Putting in the Seed, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/putting-in-the-seed.html, id L02650.
Form and metre
Putting in the Seed is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 50% 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 ABABABABCDCD nightA · seeB · whiteA · treeB · quiteA · peaB · sightA · meB · earthC · seedD · birthC · weedD
- 2 AA comesA · crumbsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You come to fetch me from my work to-night | 10 | ·········· |
| When supper's on the table, and we'll see | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| If I can leave off burying the white | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Soft petals fallen from the apple tree. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| (Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea;) | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| And go along with you ere you lose sight | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Of what you came for and become like me, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Slave to a springtime passion for the earth. | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| On through the watching for that early birth | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| The sturdy seedling with arched body comes | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs. | 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.