“The Sound of the Trees” Summary

“The Sound of the Trees” Themes

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  Life, Longing, and Acceptance

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Sound of the Trees”

• Lines 1-5

  I wonder about the trees.
  Why do we wish to bear
  Forever the noise of these
  More than another noise
  So close to our dwelling place?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-9

  We suffer them by the day
  Till we lose all measure of pace,
  And fixity in our joys,
  And acquire a listening air.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-14

  They are that that talks of going
  But never gets away;
  And that talks no less for knowing,
  As it grows wiser and older,
  That now it means to stay.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-18

  My feet tug at the floor
  And my head sways to my shoulder
  Sometimes when I watch trees sway,
  From the window or the door.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-20

  I shall set forth for somewhere,
  I shall make the reckless choice

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-23

  Some day when they are in voice
  And tossing so as to scare
  The white clouds over them on.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 24-25

  I shall have less to say,
  But I shall be gone.

  

  

  

  

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“The Sound of the Trees” Symbols

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  The Window and Door

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• 

  The Clouds

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• 

  The Trees

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“The Sound of the Trees” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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“The Sound of the Trees” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Bear
• Dwelling place
• Measure of pace
• Fixity
• Air

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Sound of the Trees”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Sound of the Trees” Speaker

“The Sound of the Trees” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Sound of the Trees”

More “The Sound of the Trees” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem (accompanied by the actual sound of trees!).

  • Frost's Biography — Learn more about Frost's life and work courtesy the Poetry Foundation. 

  • Mountain Interval — Check out the full collection in which this poem appears.  

  • Frost on Frost — An interview with the poet at his home in the 1950s.  

  • The Sound of Trees — A recording of the kind of sound that Frost probably had in mind when writing this poem.  

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Frost

  • Acquainted with the Night

  • After Apple-Picking

  • Birches

  • Desert Places

  • Design

  • Dust of Snow

  • Fire and Ice

  • Home Burial

  • Mending Wall

  • Mowing

  • My November Guest

  • Nothing Gold Can Stay

  • Out, Out—

  • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

  • The Death of the Hired Man

  • The Oven Bird

  • The Road Not Taken

  • The Tuft of Flowers

  • The Wood-Pile