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Robert Frost: Silken Tent
Rhyme Scheme: The Silken Tent’ by Robert Frost is a two-stanza poem that is divided into one
set ten lines and one set of four, for a total of fourteen lines. This is the traditional length of a
sonnet. The form is furthered through the use of a specific rhyme scheme:
ABABCDCDEFEFGG. This is the traditional rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet. The
poem is also written in iambic pentameter.
Summary: In the poem The Silken Tent the poet is comparing the tent with the woman whom the
poet loved. The summer breeze stirs the tent and has dried the dew. When the dew has dried, the
tent becomes tight. And all its ropes also have become loose and the ropes move easily and gently.
Similarly, when the woman is free from her domestic duties, she freely goes here and there.
Analysis: So, this poem, which at first seems rather formless, in fact has a very specific
structure: fourteen lines of lambic pentameter rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. There is a term
for this structure: it is called the Shakespearean sonnet. The poem is single, long, graceful
sentence that unfolds -- in very relaxed, natural sounding way - within the strict boundaries of
the Shakespearean sonnet form.
It describes a woman whose life unfolds in a very relaxed, natural way, within numerous strict
boundaries. In the woman's character, as in the poem's form, one is not really aware that the
boundaries are even there. The woman exists comfortably, naturally, easily within numerous
limits and boundaries.
And this is the great accomplishment of the poem: the language of the poem does what the
language itself says. Though this analysis proceeded by temporarily separating form and
content, the result of the analysis is the realization that in "The Silken Tent" form and content
are truly inseparable: they are exact complements to each other. The effect of this poem, is to
create a sharp sense of pleasure and appreciation when one recognizes how skillfully and
appropriately the poet has used the words.