A Brook in the City
The farm house lingers, though averse to squareWith the new city street it has to wearA number in. But what about the brookThat held the house as in an elbow-crook?I ask as one who knew the brook, its strengthAnd impulse, having dipped a finger lengthAnd made it leap my knuckle, having tossedA flower to try its currents where they crossed.The meadow grass could be cemented downFrom growing under pavements of a town;The apple trees be sent to hearth-stone flame.Is water wood to serve a brook the same?How else dispose of an immortal forceNo longer needed? Staunch it at its sourceWith cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrownDeep in a sewer dungeon under stoneIn fetid darkness still to live and run--And all for nothing it had ever doneExcept forget to go in fear perhaps.No one would know except for ancient mapsThat such a brook ran water. But I wonderIf from its being kept forever underThe thoughts may not have risen that so keepThis new-built city from both work and sleep.
Words in this poem
- averse a.
- Turned away or backward. [L. aversus, p. p. of avertere. See Avert.]
- knuckle n.
- The joint of a finger, particularly when made prominent by the closing of the fingers. Davenant. [OE. knokel, knokil, AS. cuncel; akin to D. knokkel, OFries. knokele, knokle, G. knöchel, Sw. knoge, Dan. knokkel, G. knochen bone, and perh. to E. knock.]
- cinder n.
- Partly burned or vitrified coal, or other combustible, in which fire is extinct. [AS. sinder slag, dross; akin to Icel. sindr dross, Sw. sinder, G. sinter, D. sintel; perh. influenced by F. cendre ashes, fr. L. cinis. Cf. Sinter.]
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Brook in the City is in the public domain. This text is taken from New Hampshire, A Poem; with Notes and Grace Notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #58611; 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, A Brook in the City, in New Hampshire (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #58611, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-new-hampshire/a-brook-in-the-city.html, id L02704.
Form and metre
A Brook in the City is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 67% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL squareA · wearA · brookB · crookB · strengthC · lengthC · tossedD · crossedD · downE · townE · flameF · sameF · forceG · sourceG · thrownH · stoneH · runI · doneI · perhapsJ · mapsJ · wonderK · underK · keepL · sleepL
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The farm house lingers, though averse to square | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| With the new city street it has to wear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A number in. But what about the brook | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That held the house as in an elbow-crook? | 10 | ·······/·· |
| I ask as one who knew the brook, its strength | 10 | ·········· |
| And impulse, having dipped a finger length | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And made it leap my knuckle, having tossed | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| A flower to try its currents where they crossed. | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| The meadow grass could be cemented down | 10 | ·/····˘/˘· |
| From growing under pavements of a town; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The apple trees be sent to hearth-stone flame. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Is water wood to serve a brook the same? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| How else dispose of an immortal force | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| No longer needed? Staunch it at its source | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| With cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrown | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Deep in a sewer dungeon under stone | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| In fetid darkness still to live and run-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And all for nothing it had ever done | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Except forget to go in fear perhaps. | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| No one would know except for ancient maps | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That such a brook ran water. But I wonder | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| If from its being kept forever under | 10 | ···/·˘/˘·· |
| The thoughts may not have risen that so keep | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| This new-built city from both work and sleep. | 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.