The Line-Gang
Here come the line-gang pioneering by.They throw a forest down less cut than broken.They plant dead trees for living, and the deadThey string together with a living thread.They string an instrument against the skyWherein words whether beaten out or spokenWill run as hushed as when they were a thought.But in no hush they string it: they go pastWith shouts afar to pull the cable taut,To hold it hard until they make it fast,To ease away--they have it. With a laugh,An oath of towns that set the wild at naughtThey bring the telephone and telegraph.
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
The Line-Gang 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 Line-Gang, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/the-line-gang.html, id L02666.
Form and metre
The Line-Gang is 13 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABCCABDEDEFDF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 ABCCABDEDEFDF byA · brokenB · deadC · threadC · skyA · spokenB · thoughtD · pastE · tautD · fastE · laughF · naughtD · telegraphF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here come the line-gang pioneering by. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| They throw a forest down less cut than broken. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| They plant dead trees for living, and the dead | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They string together with a living thread. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| They string an instrument against the sky | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Wherein words whether beaten out or spoken | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Will run as hushed as when they were a thought. | 10 | ·········· |
| But in no hush they string it: they go past | 10 | ·········· |
| With shouts afar to pull the cable taut, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| To hold it hard until they make it fast, | 10 | ·········· |
| To ease away--they have it. With a laugh, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| An oath of towns that set the wild at naught | 10 | ·········· |
| They bring the telephone and telegraph. | 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.