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Robert Frost’s “October” is a 21-line poem written with a formal rhyme scheme and compressed into one long, single stanza. Despite its technically being one stanza, adherence to sentence structure within the poem divides it into informal stanzas, each discernable due to the consistent use of punctuation and rhyme. It is a pastoral poem that takes great interest in the natural world, using that world to explore the more abstract and philosophical concepts of death and time.
Opening in formal lyric fashion, “October” begins with a direct address to the season, which in the poem functions as addressee: “Oh hushed October morning mild” (Line 1). The following lines further situate the reader within the day and season by providing basic observations conveyed through vivid imagery like “leaves” that have “ripened” (Line 2) and the suggestion that said leaves are so changed they may be blown from the trees by the wind. The crows function much like the leaves, with the speaker alluding to the imminent change in season through a reference to avian migration: “The crows above the forest call; / Tomorrow they may form and go” (Lines 5-6) presumably south for winter.
By Robert Frost
Acquainted with the Night
Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost
After Apple-Picking
After Apple-Picking
Robert Frost
A Time To Talk
A Time To Talk
Robert Frost
Birches
Birches
Robert Frost
Dust of Snow
Dust of Snow
Robert Frost
Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Mending Wall
Mending Wall
Robert Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost
Once by the Pacific
Once by the Pacific
Robert Frost
Out, Out—
Out, Out—
Robert Frost
Putting in the Seed
Putting in the Seed
Robert Frost
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
The Death of the Hired Man
The Death of the Hired Man
Robert Frost
The Gift Outright
The Gift Outright
Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
West-Running Brook
West-Running Brook
Robert Frost