Analysis of Two Tramps in Mud Time
Robert Frost 1874 (San Francisco) – 1963 (Boston)
Out of the mud two strangers came
And caught me splitting wood in the yard,
And one of them put me off my aim
By hailing cheerily "Hit them hard!"
I knew pretty well why he had dropped behind
And let the other go on a way.
I knew pretty well what he had in mind:
He wanted to take my job for pay.
Good blocks of oak it was I split,
As large around as the chopping block;
And every piece I squarely hit
Fell splinterless as a cloven rock.
The blows that a life of self-control
Spares to strike for the common good,
That day, giving a loose my soul,
I spent on the unimportant wood.
The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March.
A bluebird comes tenderly up to alight
And turns to the wind to unruffle a plume,
His song so pitched as not to excite
A single flower as yet to bloom.
It is snowing a flake; and he half knew
Winter was only playing possum.
Except in color he isn't blue,
But he wouldn't advise a thing to blossom.
The water for which we may have to look
In summertime with a witching wand,
In every wheelrut's now a brook,
In every print of a hoof a pond.
Be glad of water, but don't forget
The lurking frost in the earth beneath
That will steal forth after the sun is set
And show on the water its crystal teeth.
The time when most I loved my task
The two must make me love it more
By coming with what they came to ask.
You'd think I never had felt before
The weight of an ax-head poised aloft,
The grip of earth on outspread feet,
The life of muscles rocking soft
And smooth and moist in vernal heat.
Out of the wood two hulking tramps
(From sleeping God knows where last night,
But not long since in the lumber camps).
They thought all chopping was theirs of right.
Men of the woods and lumberjacks,
They judged me by their appropriate tool.
Except as a fellow handled an ax
They had no way of knowing a fool.
Nothing on either side was said.
They knew they had but to stay their stay
And all their logic would fill my head:
As that I had no right to play
With what was another man's work for gain.
My right might be love but theirs was need.
And where the two exist in twain
Theirs was the better right--agreed.
But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future's sakes.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IDIDJKJK LMLMNONO PQPQRSRS TUTUXVXV WLXLWXXX YD YDZ1 Z1 2 L2 L2 3 2 3 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 011101001 011111111 1101111 11101111101 010101101 1110111101 110111111 11111111 110110101 010011101 111011 011011101 11110101 11100111 111000101 011110111 1111111101 1011100111 1111001011 111111111 01110011 01110101 01111001011 0111001101 011011101 111111101 010101111 1110010111 101101010 010101101 11100101110 0101111111 01010101 01001101 0100110101 111101101 010100101 1111100111 0110101101 01111111 01111111 110111111 111101101 011111101 0111111 01110101 01010101 11011101 11011111 111100101 111101111 110101 1111101001 0110101011 111111001 10110111 111111111 011101111 11111111 1110101111 111111111 01010101 11010101 111111010 110010111 101001010 11111101 10110111 001111101 10110101 11000101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,609 |
Words | 540 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 2, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 207 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 04, 2023
- 2:44 min read
- 3,726 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Two Tramps in Mud Time" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30948/two-tramps-in-mud-time>.
Discuss this Robert Frost poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In