Going for Water

The well was dry beside the door,

And so we went with pail and can

Across the fields behind the house

To seek the brook if still it ran;

Not loth to have excuse to go,

Because the autumn eve was fair

(Though chill), because the fields were ours,

And by the brook our woods were there.

We ran as if to meet the moon

That slowly dawned behind the trees,

The barren boughs without the leaves,

Without the birds, without the breeze.

But once within the wood, we paused

Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,

Ready to run to hiding new

With laughter when she found us soon.

Each laid on other a staying hand

To listen ere we dared to look,

And in the hush we joined to make

We heard, we knew we heard the brook.

A note as from a single place,

A slender tinkling fall that made

Now drops that floated on the pool

Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

    -Robert Frost

Figures of Speech:

Alliteration:

The   well was dry beside the door – d

And   so we went with pail and can – w

To   seek the brook if still it ran – s

And   by the brook our woods were there – v

We   ran as if to meet the moon – m

The   barren boughs without the leaves – b

Without   the birds, without the breeze – b

But   once within the wood, we paused – v

Ready to run to hiding new – r

With laughter when she found   us soon – v

A   slender tinkling falll that made – t

Simile:

Like gnomes that hid us from the   moon

Like   pearls, and   now a silver blade

Metaphor

Like   pearls, and now a silver blade

Personification:

With   laughter when she found us soon

Anaphora:

Because   the autumn eve   was fair

(Though   chill), because the fields were ours

A note as from a single place,

A slender tinkling fail that   made

Repetition:

The   barren boughs without the leaves,

Without the birds, without the   breeze

We   heard, we  knew we heard the brook

Onomatopoeia:

A   slender tinkling fall that made

Rhyme

abcb – Can, ran; fair, there; trees,   breeze; moon, soon; look, brook; made, blade;