The Cow in Apple Time
Something inspires the only cow of lateTo make no more of a wall than an open gate,And think no more of wall-builders than fools.Her face is flecked with pomace and she droolsA cider syrup. Having tasted fruit,She scorns a pasture withering to the root.She runs from tree to tree where lie and sweetenThe windfalls spiked with stubble and worm-eaten.She leaves them bitten when she has to fly.She bellows on a knoll against the sky.Her udder shrivels and the milk goes dry.
Words in this poem
- pomace n.
- The substance of apples, or of similar fruit, crushed by grinding. [L. ponum a fruit, LL., an apple: cf. LL. pomagium, pomacium.]
- syrup n.
- A thick and viscid liquid made from the juice of fruits, herbs, etc., boiled with sugar. [F. sirop (cf. It. siroppo, Sp. jarabe, jarope, LL. siruppus, syrupus), fr. Ar. sharab a drink, wine, coffee, sirup. Cf. Sherbet.]
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
- spiked a.
- Furnished or set with spikes, as corn; fastened with spikes; stopped with spikes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Cow in Apple Time 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, The Cow in Apple Time, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/the-cow-in-apple-time.html, id L02652.
Form and metre
The Cow in Apple Time is 11 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 91% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEE lateA · gateA · foolsB · droolsB · fruitC · rootC · sweetenD · eatenD · flyE · skyE · dryE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Something inspires the only cow of late | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| To make no more of a wall than an open gate, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| And think no more of wall-builders than fools. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Her face is flecked with pomace and she drools | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A cider syrup. Having tasted fruit, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| She scorns a pasture withering to the root. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| She runs from tree to tree where lie and sweeten | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The windfalls spiked with stubble and worm-eaten. | 11 | ·/···/˘··/˘ |
| She leaves them bitten when she has to fly. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| She bellows on a knoll against the sky. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Her udder shrivels and the milk goes dry. | 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.