The Vanishing Red
He is said to have been the last Red ManIn Acton. And the Miller is said to have laughed--If you like to call such a sound a laugh.But he gave no one else a laugher's license.For he turned suddenly grave as if to say,"Whose business,--if I take it on myself,Whose business--but why talk round the barn?--When it's just that I hold with getting a thing done with."You can't get back and see it as he saw it.It's too long a story to go into now.You'd have to have been there and lived it.Then you wouldn't have looked on it as just a matterOf who began it between the two races.
Some guttural exclamation of surpriseThe Red Man gave in poking about the millOver the great big thumping shuffling mill-stoneDisgusted the Miller physically as comingFrom one who had no right to be heard from."Come, John," he said, "you want to see the wheel pit?"
He took him down below a cramping rafter,And showed him, through a manhole in the floor,The water in desperate straits like frantic fish,Salmon and sturgeon, lashing with their tails.Then he shut down the trap door with a ring in itThat jangled even above the general noise,And came up stairs alone--and gave that laugh,And said something to a man with a meal-sackThat the man with the meal-sack didn't catch--then.Oh, yes, he showed John the wheel pit all right.
Words in this poem
- acton n.
- A stuffed jacket worn under the mail, or (later) a jacket plated with mail. [Spelled also hacqueton.] Halliwell. Sir W. [OF. aketon, auqueton, F. hoqueton, a quilted jacket, fr. Sp. alcoton, algodon, cotton. Cf. Cotton.]
- poking a.
- Drudging; servile.
- rafter n.
- Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post. [AS. ræfter; akin to E. raft, n. See Raft.]
- manhole n.
- A hole through which a man may descend or creep into a drain, sewer, steam boiler, parts of machinery, etc., for cleaning or repairing.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- lashing n.
- The act of one who, or that which, lashes; castigation; chastisement. South. Lashing out, a striking out; also, extravagance.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Vanishing Red 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 Vanishing Red, in Mountain Interval (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29345, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-mountain-interval/the-vanishing-red.html, id L02667.
Form and metre
The Vanishing Red is 29 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.7 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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 --------A-A-- man · laughed · laugh · license · say · myself · barn · with · itA · now · itA · matter · races
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He is said to have been the last Red Man | 10 | ·········· |
| In Acton. And the Miller is said to have laughed-- | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| If you like to call such a sound a laugh. | 10 | ·········· |
| But he gave no one else a laugher's license. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| For he turned suddenly grave as if to say, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| "Whose business,--if I take it on myself, | 10 | ·/˘······/ |
| Whose business--but why talk round the barn?-- | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| When it's just that I hold with getting a thing done with." | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| You can't get back and see it as he saw it. | 11 | ··········· |
| It's too long a story to go into now. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| You'd have to have been there and lived it. | 10 | ········˘· |
| Then you wouldn't have looked on it as just a matter | 13 | ··/˘·······/˘ |
| Of who began it between the two races. | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| Some guttural exclamation of surprise | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| The Red Man gave in poking about the mill | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Over the great big thumping shuffling mill-stone | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| Disgusted the Miller physically as coming | 11 | ˘/˘·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| From one who had no right to be heard from. | 10 | ·········· |
| "Come, John," he said, "you want to see the wheel pit?" | 11 | ··········· |
| He took him down below a cramping rafter, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And showed him, through a manhole in the floor, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| The water in desperate straits like frantic fish, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Salmon and sturgeon, lashing with their tails. | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Then he shut down the trap door with a ring in it | 12 | ············ |
| That jangled even above the general noise, | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| And came up stairs alone--and gave that laugh, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And said something to a man with a meal-sack | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| That the man with the meal-sack didn't catch--then. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Oh, yes, he showed John the wheel pit all right. | 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.