The Smile
I didn't like the way he went away.That smile! It never came of being gay.Still he smiled--did you see him?--I was sure!Perhaps because we gave him only breadAnd the wretch knew from that that we were poor.Perhaps because he let us give insteadOf seizing from us as he might have seized.Perhaps he mocked at us for being wed,Or being very young (and he was pleasedTo have a vision of us old and dead).I wonder how far down the road he's got.He's watching from the woods as like as not.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Smile 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 Smile, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/the-smile.html, id L02657.
Form and metre
The Smile is 12 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABCBCDCDCEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 25% 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 AABCBCDCDCEE awayA · gayA · sureB · breadC · poorB · insteadC · seizedD · wedC · pleasedD · deadC · gotE · notE
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 didn't like the way he went away. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| That smile! It never came of being gay. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Still he smiled--did you see him?--I was sure! | 10 | ·········· |
| Perhaps because we gave him only bread | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| And the wretch knew from that that we were poor. | 10 | ·········· |
| Perhaps because he let us give instead | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Of seizing from us as he might have seized. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Perhaps he mocked at us for being wed, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Or being very young (and he was pleased | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| To have a vision of us old and dead). | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I wonder how far down the road he's got. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| He's watching from the woods as like as not. | 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.